Project MANA
by Team-MANA
Summary: Hello everyone, and welcome to Project MANA. The team and I have been working on this for quite a while now, from August actually, and we've been working our asses off to bring this series to you all! This is the first chapter of Project MANA! I've split it into 2 parts because I thought it was emotionally appropriate to do so, I hope you enjoy this first chapter!
1. Chapter 1, part 1 of 2

**Project MANA: Chapter 1, The Beginning of a legend, Part 1 of 2**

Greetings, and allow me to introduce you to the world of Terra Asteria, a world of magic and wonder, of great beasts and mages alike, but I digress, for this is the story of most likely, the most powerful Pyromancer (Fire Mage) to ever live, a young lad by the name of Byaku Yakate, the latest in a long line of Pyromancers, hailing from the large metropolis, Death City, named so after a very famous and powerful Mage known as Grimm, and some unique Magic he possessed.  
Byaku lived a simple life, without a father in his life since he was very young, and an elder brother who left to join 'some fancy academy'. It was just him and his mother, who he had to look after instead of the other way around, you see, Byaku's mother has fallen ill and has been for some time now, but as you will see in a moment, she may not be for much longer…

_Fade into a small house in the suburbs of Death City, down the street a young man is walking toward the house with many bags of groceries' so he can feed his mother, he walks with an unusual spring in his step and a large, unmovable grin on his face, he's wearing a Red hoodie with white sleeves, paired with a pair of blue jeans with two black patches sewn on to the knees to cover up holes, his white sneakers with red shoe laces are quite worn and should have been replaced by now, his blonde, spikey hair and unusual purple eyes stand out in a crowd, especially the crowd of Death City, the glasses that frame his eyes are oddly grey, like the paint had been scratched or burnt off of them._

Byaku: Hey mum! I'm home! I got the things you wanted from the shop.

Byaku's mother: Hey sweetie, I hope it wasn't too much trouble for you *hugs Byaku*

Byaku: It wasn't a problem at all mum, I swear! *grins* Have you taken your medicine today? The doctors say that you need to take it or you won't get better.

Byaku's mother: Bah! I don't need that poxy Geomancers' (Earth Mage) herbal remedies, I'll be fine, don't worry about lil' old me!

Byaku: No mum, you need to take the medicine. Ugh! I'll heat it up for you.

_Byaku may be the latest in a long line of Pyromancers, but his fire magic isn't all that crash hot and is often the butt of other people's jokes. You see, despite Byaku being 17, only being able to create small flames from his hand or fingers, and they don't last all that long, just long enough to bring water to the boil for basic things like tea and coffee, which is convenient, because he regularly needs to heat up water to boil the herbal remedies that his mother needs for her sickness, which she calls 'poxy plant juice' and often doesn't take or throws out due to her pride of not wanting to rely on something someone else made._

_Byaku snaps his fingers under a kettle full of water to bring it to boiling point so he can put the various herbs he got from the local chemist into the boiling water to bring out their medicinal effects._

Byaku: You really should take your medicine more often! It's not just some eastern herbal tea, its proper Geomancer-grown herbs; it'll make you better, ONLY if you swallow your pride, as well as this medicine.

Byaku's mother: Bah! I don't need that poxy plant juice to get healthy again! Look at me, fit as a fiddle! *stands up and goes to flex her muscles but falls over in the process* Oh dear! *crash!*

Byaku: MUM! Are you ok!? Let me help you up.

Byaku's mother: Oh dear, I guess I'm not as healthy as I thought! Fine, I'll drink the poxy plant juice.

_Byaku helps his mother up and back into her chair, a chair she seldom leaves for the basic things like to go to the toilet and to sleep, sometimes she even sleeps in the chair, but unfortunately she has definitely seen better days, mainly due to her refusal to take her medicine._

Byaku: Mum? Are you sure you're ok? You look a lot more pale then usual *as he pours a mug of the herbal drink and hands it to his mother*

Byaku's mother: I'm fine, kinda *giggles* You know this ol' bird won't have much in her for long, you know that right Bya-kun? *takes the mug and starts sipping*

Byaku: Don't talk like that! I know you'll be healthy again, I can just tell! *bumps his fist up against his heart to show what he means*

Byaku's mother: Oh, the ol' 'Yakate-Gut-Feeling' eh? Well then, I'd best start preaching my health to the street then! *sarcasm* Bya-kun, you know that gut feeling is all that is, a gut feeling, and look where that got your father, runs off without so much as an explanation to be some big-wig at that "Hope's Pillar Academy" your brother Vincent attends, doesn't write, doesn't call, doesn't even send any little things like souvenirs for lil' old me to enjoy while I stay at home looking after you.

Byaku: Excuse me? YOU looking after ME? I think your sight needs checking along with your health *giggles*

Byaku's mother: Oh, looky here, a smart-alick! You know what we do to smart-alicks in the Yakate family don't you boy? *giggles as she shoots a fire ball at Byaku's hair*

Byaku: Hey! I was only joking mum, jeez! *laughs*

Byaku's mother: I know Bya-kun *laughs followed by A LOT of coughing as she falls out of her chair*

Byaku: Mum? Are you ok?

Byaku's mother: *loud coughing* No, call the hospital, now! *more coughing*

Byaku: Crap!

_After calling the hospital for an ambulance and getting his mother to the hospital post-haste, Byaku was left in the waiting area of the ER, beside himself with worry for his mother's health. When…_

Doctor #1: Byaku Yakate? Your mother will see you now.

Byaku: Thank you.

_Byaku walks into his mother's cubical to find that she was rigged up to multiple machines measuring her heart beat and such, you know, medical stuff._

Byaku: Mum? Is everything alright? What's with all this machinery and junk? *sits beside his mother and holds her hand*

Byaku's mother: I'm afraid not Bya-kun, it appears I didn't drink enough of that poxy plant juice, who knew? *giggles followed by coughing* Oh dear, I guess this ol' bird DOESN'T have much left in her. I'm so sorry to do this to you Byaku sweetie.

Byaku: It's alright mum, I'm sure this place can fix whatever's wrong with you., are our aunts and uncles going to be coming? *he asks one of the doctors*

Doctor #1: Your aunt pyra and Uncle Ventus have been notified and are on their way as we speak.

Doctor #2: I've tried to get into contact with your Uncle Volcanis, but to no avail, I'm sorry son.

Byaku: It's ok; you did your best. What about Vince? Has he been notified?

?: Already here lil' bro.

_A voice comes from seemingly everywhere as a mysterious young man enters the room, he is 3 years older than Byaku and is technically a Graduate of the Hope's Pillar Academy, he wears a black shirt with an orange Flack-Jacket over the top, with a symbol of the back that represents Pyromancers, he has grey, stone-washed jeans with biker boots on, as well as a pair of aviators that he's taken off and put in his pocket, revealing his also Purple eyes, a staple of the Yakate Family, and the scare going through his left eye, his white hair is tied back into a pony tail with one large bang hanging down in front of his face, his un-shaven appearance seems to suggest he's been training recently and hasn't had time to properly look after his personal hygiene._

Byaku: Vince! You made it! *runs and hugs his older brother*

Vincent: Of course I came, squirt. My mum is in hospital, of course I'm going to come and see her. Did you forget to drink your medicine? It may be poxy plant juice but now look at you, hanging on to the few threads of life you have left. Why?

Mother Yakate: I'm sorry Vince, You know how prideful we Pyromancers can be, furious as flame, and stubborn as stone, Ironic really, seeing as we aren't earth mages, HA!

Byaku: …

Vincent: …

Mother Yakate: I'm sorry boys, come 'ere will ya, I doubt I have much time left so I want my boys to be here with me *calls Byaku and Vincent over to give them a motherly hug*

Byaku: Mum, why are you saying that you aren't going to have much time left, you guys can save her can't you? *he asks the doctors*

Vincent: Byaku…

Doctor #1: I'm sorry son, because your mother has let her condition get her this bad…

Doctor #2: Unfortunately, she's gone terminal, she's got days at the most, I'm so sorry.

Byaku: …

Vincent: Byaku…we knew this was going to happen, she refuses to take her medicine and look where it got her.

Byaku: …THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH! *slams his fist down on the table* How can these people call themselves medical mages if they can't cure EVERY disease out there!

Mother Yakate: Byaku! That's enough, this isn't the doctors fault, I'm the one who couldn't swallow my pride, I'm the one who's gotten myself killed, please calm down.

Byaku: …I'm sorry…so sorry *sobs into his mother's hand*

Mother Yakate: Hey, baby, sh, it'll be alright, I promise. *pats her youngest sons head to comfort him* they said I have A FEW days left, so you can stay by my side until I bite it ok? *blissfully smiles at her son*

Byaku: …Ok…*sniff* *sob*

Vincent: I'm really sorry about this, but the academy really needs me, so I need to hit-n-run, don't worry squirt, everything will be alright, even if it ends up you need to live with Uncle Volcanis… Ugh. *shivers*

Byaku: What!? You're leaving already!?

Mother Yakate: Goodbye Vince baby, when you see your father, give him a thumpin' for not seeing me off will ya!

Vincent: Will do mum, I love you.

_Vincent puts on his aviators, hiding his tears, as he walks out of the room to the Hope's Pillar Academy._

Byaku: …I wish he could have stayed, but don't worry mum, I'm not leaving your side, I promise!

Mother Yakate: I know baby *pats her son's hand*

_Over the next few days, Byaku's aunts and uncles visited from far and wide to see their sister/sister-in-law off, but on one fateful day._

Byaku: Hey mum, they said you had a few days left, but it's been almost a week, and you look fine.

Mother Yakate: I know baby, but I can feel it, it's coming in close now.

Byaku: What? What's coming in close?

Mother Yakate: In other words, boy, my time's almost up.

Byaku: …Right…

Mother Yakate: Bya-kun…can you do me a favour?

Byaku: Of course, anything!

Mother Yakate: When I finally kick the bucket, I want you to enrol in Hope's Pillar Academy, train your magic to the best it can be, make as much friends as possible, and graduate at the top of your class, can you do that for me sweetie?

Byaku: Of course I can! I'll do it for you mum.

Mother Yakate: Capital! Can you also take this with you, it was your fathers, he cherished this above all else before he left it to me when he left, and I want you to have it, to show that your parents are always with you.

_She hands Byaku a necklace with the Pyrus School's symbol on it, an upside down red pentagon with a crimson out-line with orange flames in the centre_

Byaku: …I will mum, I'll never let it go, I promise...mum? Mum you there!?

_Giving Byaku the necklace was her last action before she passed on to become one with magic, but not before uttering one last sentence, "I love you more than anything in this world Bya-kun"._

**To Be Continued in Part 2 of 2**


	2. Chapter 1, part 2 of 2

**Project MANA: Chapter 1, The Beginning of a legend, Part 2 of 2**

"_I love you more than anything in this world"_

_These were the words etched into Byaku's mothers tomb-stone, a few days after her death in the hospital her funeral was held, members of the Yakate family gathered from across the many nations of Terra Asteria to see their clanswoman off, Byaku sat right at the front, but was silent during the whole proceeding, Vincent was present even though he had dutys to uphold at the academy, he sat right next to his younger brother, despite the two aren't what everyone would call 'the best of friends', in fact, they more often fight and argue then get along, but in events like these, blood is thicker than water. To Byaku's surprise, but not everyone else's, Byaku's father was missing from the guests invited to the funeral, he always seemed to be absent from many events he was invited to._

_Soon after the main events of the funeral, Vincent had to depart and return to the academy, Byaku still standing by his mother's grave, clutching the necklace she had given him._

Byaku: I won't let you down mum, I swear!

_Soon after everyone had left and returned to their homes, Byaku went back to his own home and began packing his things. He had a long trek ahead of him._

_After packing his things and having one last meal in the empty house, he stood outside on the front lawn. He knew he'd never be coming back to this house, Death City maybe, but not this house. without a word, he knelt down and snapped his fingers next to the grass and set it alight, he had nothing to come back to, so why leave an empty shell to remind everyone he was gone? As Byaku walked away from his house and towards the train station, all could see the black smoke billowing from what used to be the Yakate Family Home, no one called the fire brigade, they knew why Byaku had set his own house alight, nothing happens in Death City that doesn't eventually get around._

_Byaku eventually made it to the Death City train station, the trains there are not like the trains you and I know, they look very similar, except they have a much sleeker design, and have blue glowing pads under them in place of wheels, for these trains are powered by magic, specifically, the newly discovered Technosis magic, magic that has evolved to manipulate technology has man has evolved to use it._

_Byaku bought a ticket bound for the legendary Hope's Pillar City, home to the Hope's Pillar Academy, an establishment dedicated to training those with magical talent to hone their abilities and master their respective school of magic, be it fire magic, or harnessing near demonic rage that lays within the specific mage, this monument to the worlds safety and piece has trained mages for an eternity and will be for an eternity more, it is a testament to how far humanity has come._

_As Byaku stepped onto the train, he looked back in the direction of the black stream of smoke billowing into the sky where his house used to be, and watched as the stream of smoke slowly shrunk and shrunk in size as the train sped away from Death City until all you could see was just the city becoming smaller and smaller. Soon all you could see were grand open plains and mountains off in the distance. In not too long, the track began to lead towards the coast, and soon started taking to the ocean to get to the country of Selara, which houses Hope's Pillar and the academy. Byaku was shocked that trains could even go over water without some kind of modification or track to go over, but all there was, was the occasional buoy with hover pads to keep the train going. Soon Byaku could see another land mass off in the distance. It was the mystical country of Selara, where almost everything has some kind of magical potential._

_The train would curve lightly as it pulled into the station it was destined for. Finally, after an hour and a half, Byaku made it to Selara. As he steps of the carriage of the train, he sees himself surrounded by a big, bustling place filled with people and interesting things he hadn't known existed. Advertisements, floating lights, and a big board stating the train schedules, and suddenly a voice calls out from all directions and startles Byaku._

"_Now boarding for: allysinia at: 4:15. Repeat- Now boarding for: allysinia at: 4:15."_

_And in a matter of seconds, the train behind him would begin to move, to allysina, no doubt. _

_Byaku: Well… no turning back now…_

_He would utter to himself as he picked up his things and began walking toward the exit._

_At least what seemed like an exit, anyway. All he really managed to do was get lost. There wasn't a map anywhere in sight, but at least the people were fewer in number. He looked for someone in uniform _

_Byaku: uh, excuse me? Hello?_

_Luckily for him, there happened to be someone nearby, clad in a dark green colour, and donning a badge, likely representing his station within the… well, the station. _

_He responds. "Yes, hello. Something I can do for you?"_

_Byaku: Uh, yes actually. Would you mind telling me the way out?_

_He laughs heartily. "First time here, huh? We get a lot like you! Turn around, go down that hallway. After that, go left, then take the third right from there. Once ya do that, its cakewalk."_

_Byaku: thanks!_

_After that, he followed the man's instructions_

5 MINUTES LATER

Byaku: Ah, damit! I'm lost again! Now what…*grumble grumble*

_As Byaku makes this exclamation of frustration, another station worker walks around the corner and recognises a lost newcomer, something that is common for those who come to Hope's Pillar to enrol in the academy._

Station Worker: Hello there, do you need help with anything? From the yelling I just heard I'm assuming that you're lost.

Byaku: wha? Wh-wh-wha? Me? Lost? PFFT! I'm not lost, I…yeah I'm lost…I could use a little help…

Station Worker: no problem kiddo! Right this way.

_With the help of the station worker, Byaku was able to make his way out of the labyrinth that is Hope's Pillar Central Station._

_Now out of the train station, Byaku began making his way towards Hope's Pillar Academy. Luckily, Byaku was in no worry of getting lost on his way to the academy, because the academy was like another city towering over the rest of Hope's Pillar, with a plethora of roads leading to the academy which lies in the centre of the city._

_Byaku was making his way when suddenly, out of nowhere, multiple loud booms and crashes could be heard close by, somehow, a massive Earth-Elemental had appeared inside the city and was wreaking havoc, destroying buildings and summoning large stone spikes out of the ground while booming:_

_Earth Elemental: YAHAHA! I AM ROCKZAR! ALL SHALL CRUMBLE BEFORE MY MIGHT! KNEEL BEFORE YOUR NEW MASTER CITIZENS OF HOPE'S PILLAR! YAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!_

_When Byaku went to investigate these noises, he could see the massive creature laughing as he swatted his hands at buildings and destroying them like they were made of butter. Byaku, knowing he's no match for this monstrosity, decided getting civilians in the area to safety before actual mages arrived to combat the elemental was the best idea. Running as fast as he could, he managed to get multiple civilians to safety, but he could still hear screaming from near the monster. The noise was dwarfed in comparison, but they were there. Byaku raced into action, jumping over debris and rocks to see where these screams where coming from, when he saw near one of the buildings, a young girl, about Byaku's age, with blue hair, orange eyes, and…dog ears? Uh…ok? Anyway, Byaku tried to get to the girl, who Byaku did admit was kinda cute looking, when a large chunk of building was bashed from the building by Rockzar and was heading straight for the girl, Byaku, now more determined than ever, suddenly felt a massive energy well up inside him, when suddenly he sped forward at inhuman speeds, leaping into the air and catching this massive piece of debris and landing with the building merely centimetres away from the girl's head. Shocked at his new found strength and speed, Byaku grunted under the weight of the building:_

Byaku: This…is very heavy…don't just stand there gobsmacked, GO!

_The girl, who was astonished by this strangers power, was still for a few seconds before she came back to earth and responded _"Right!"_ before running off to a safe distance._

_Now knowing that there were no civilians, aside from himself, in the area, he decided to give his new powers a test run, he channelled the mana within him and he could hear flames starting to form in his hands, when he gave one massive push and blasted the debris apart with his now fully awakened fire magic!_

Byaku: Now THAT'S more like it! Aw yeah! Who's a crappy Pyromancer now Vince!

_While Byaku was gawking at his new found power, Rockzar was staring dumbfounded at this randoms power, until he snapped out of it and decided taking out this threat to his victory was the best stratergy._

Rockzar: HOW DARE YOU MESS UP MY PLANS YOU DAMN HUMAN!

_Rockzar yelled and began his assault on Byaku, but Byaku was simply too fast for the rocky monster to catch or hit with stone spikes._

Rockzar: STOP MOVING YOU DAMN MONKEY!

Byaku: no thanks, I'd rather jump around for a bit longer.

_Byaku seemed to be having fun leaping circles around the massive creature, firing off the vocational fire ball to annoy the elemental monster, when he landed a lucky shot at Rockzar's eye, shattering the crystal that made up said eye._

Rockzar: ARGH! MY EYE!

Byaku: ok then, I think we're on an even playing field now, I'm small and you have one eye, TOTALLY fair right, of course not! Now you're no match for me!

Rockzar: DON'T ACT SO COCKY! YOU HAVEN'T WON YET!

_With that, Rockzar lunged forward with a massive punch, Byaku smirked and jumped over the massive creature with ease. Byaku then began thinking to himself_

Byaku: (hm…If I have all this strength and speed, does that mean I'm some sort of superhero? Hm…well I won't know if I don't try!)

_Byaku thought that if he was a superhero, he should finish this fight in spectacular glory, with the biggest fire ball he can muster!_

_So byaku held his hands out in front of himself, started channelling as much mana into his hands as he could, brought them to his side, and decided to get the earth elementals attention._

Byaku: Hey! ROCKHEAD!

_Rockzar was looking around the debris for the strange human he was fighting a moment ago when he heard it call his attention from behind._

Rockzar: what? What is…OH CRAP!

Byaku: EAT THIS YOU SON OF A PEBBLE!

_With that, Byaku unleashed the massive fire ball which when hurtling towards the stone behemoth._

Rockzar: NONONONONONO AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHH!

_The fire ball ripped Rockzar in half, his face still as the light faded from the crystal that made up his remaining eye, then the creature simply crumbled._

_All was silent for seconds but seemed like an eternity, until the civilians who were watching as there rescuer dispatched the massive elemental began cheering for their new hero, it took Byaku a few more seconds before he realized these people were cheering for him, because HE saved them. The dog-eared girl simply staring in wonder at this mysterious fire mage, she could recognise nearly everyone in Hope's Pillar, but this boy was a complete stranger to her, yet he put his life on the line to save her and so many others._

Dog-eared girl: (Who IS this boy…?)

_Suddenly a large group of Academy mages came into the clearing and couldn't believe their eyes, they thought one of their own had dispatched the monster, but all they could see was a young boy standing in the clearing, one mage in particular recognised the young man._

Vincent: BYAKU! Wh-wh-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?

Byaku: oh, Hey Vince!

_Byaku smirking as he waved to his elder brother, small flames occasionally floating off of his hand._

_Vincent, being completely dumbstruck at how his younger brother, who days ago could barely get water to boil, couldn't believe that his younger brother could destroy such a massive creature. One of the other members of Vincent's team stepped forward._

?: Hey Vince, isn't that you younger brother?

Vincent: …Yeah…I don't know how…but yeah…

?: HA! I thought you said he was a shrimp who couldn't get water to boil, yet here he is, scorch marks all around him, and the earth elemental in pieces, HA!

_He yells as he slaps Vincent on the back._

Vincent: …SHUDDUP MACK! He couldn't before! I guess he awakened his magical potential just recently…

Mack: Well then, it seems that his awakening is what caused him to defeat the elemental, why don't we go congratulate him eh?

Vincent: …fine…

_Vincent was feeling a little bitter because his younger brother was suddenly receiving all this praise when he's only just gotten his magic fully awakened_

_Mack walked up to Byaku, adjusting his mechanical arm with a big grin on his face. He wore a large, brown trench coat with a white singlet underneath, he had dog-tags with his name and title engraved into then, he wore black slacks with dark brown boots, he wore welding goggles sitting on top of his head in amongst his thick brown hair, his right arm had been replaced with a mechanical one, with the sleeve of his trench coat rolled up to show said robo-arm._

Mack: Greetings there, Mini-Vince, names Mack, Technosis Pillar, that's some work you did here!

_He grinned as he stretched out his hand to shack Byaku's_

_The Pillars are the top students of the academy, the best of the best within their respective school of magic, there are 6 in total, the Pillars of fire, water, earth, lightning, Technology, and air. Mack being the current Pillar of Technosis, and Vincent Being the current Pillar of Fire, the rest of Vincent's team are the other pillars in the academy._

Byaku: Hey, I'm Byaku, did you say you're a Pillar?

_Byaku returned the handshake with the same enthusiasm as Mack's_

Mack: That's right, Pillar of Technosis, the FIRST Pillar of Technosis to be exact! So Byaku, word on the heard is you're looking to enrol in the academy, am I right?

Byaku: Y-yes! How did you know? I only just got here.

_Mack taps his hose signalling that it was a secret_

Byaku: uh huh, so can I follow you guys back to the academy to enrol then?

Mack: HA! Enrol!? No no my friend, you're gonna get honoured! Not just enrolled, you're a hero now! Saving near 100 people AND dispatching the elemental, that thing was BIG, even among elementals. C'mon, let's get back to the academy.

Byaku: Alright! Let's go! (Holy crap! Me? A HERO!? MERLINS BEARD THIS IS AWESOME!)

_Byaku retrieved his belongings from a small ally where he stashed them before going to help rescues civilians before the fight and followed the Pillars and other mages who were cleaning up the destruction Rockzar wrought back to the Hope's Pillar Academy, where Byaku was met with cheers and shouts from all around, because little did he know, but his helping civilians and defeat of Rockzar was broadcast live on the news all around Hope's Pillar City._

_Byaku was gobsmacked as he observed the academy, towering over him. It was huge, unlike any school he'd seen before. As he entered the academy, he found there to be a massive courtyard, and right in front of him, the headmaster, standing there to greet him, as if he knew Byaku would be there, at that exact moment in time._

_The Headmaster was a very old man, wearing a purple robe with gold embroidery, he bore a large medallion around his neck, the stone in the centre of it was a swirl of all colours, as if they colours of it were constantly changing, his long white hair and beard looked like he hasn't had a haircut for nearly a hundred years, but Byaku knew exactly who this was, the one and only headmaster of Hope's Pillar Academy, one of the first mages to ever live…_

Byaku: (…Mortimer the great…one of the first mages and founder of the Hope's Pillar Academy…)

Headmaster Mortimer: ah, I see you know who I am, Young Byaku *hearty giggle*

Byaku: wha? I beg your pardon? How do you know my name!?

Headmaster Mortimer: a simple case of mind-reading my dear boy *hearty giggle* anyway, from what's on the news, not only did you rescues those people in danger of being crushed and defeat that earth elemental, you did so in spectacular fashion, bonus points to you sir *winks and laughs at his own humour*

And I see you have a Pyrus Necklace, one that I can recognize anywhere, your father and mother would be proud to see you wearing that, Byaku.

Byaku: uh, thank you sir!

Headmaster Mortimer: haha! Please, call me Headmaster, formalities make my skin crawl.

Byaku: yeas Sir-uh, Headmaster!

Headmaster Mortimer: there we go, now, as a reward for your bravery and willingness to put your life on the line for complete strangers, I formally induct you into Hope's Pillar Academy! The first semester of the year will begin in a few short days, may you learn well and become the best mage you can be!

_With that, the Headmaster shot his arms up and a massive cloud of smoke seemed to explode out of him, startling Byaku, when the smoke cleared, the headmaster was gone, and after a few seconds of silence, the crowds started cheering again._

Vincent: Welcome to the big-leagues squirt, c'mon, I'll show you to where fresh-men who don't live in the city stay while they're at the academy.

Byaku: alright, lead on, Pillar of Fire~

Vincent: …gr… (I wish Mack hadn't told him that…)

_Vincent led Byaku to a large apartment complex nearby to the academy, a dormitory of sorts, took him to the room he's be staying in, and without another word, sped off, leaving Byaku to get settled into his new home._

Byaku: huh? This place is cool, and hey! It has a window view of the rest of the city, wow, this place is huge!

_And so ends the first chapter of our tale, but today was but the first of many trials and hardships our young Pyromancer must face. Stay tuned for the next chapter, Of Project MANA!_

Byaku: This is going to be great! I can't wait!

**End of Chapter 1.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Project MANA: chapter 2, The Arrival of A stranger**

"_Find the pillar of hope. In the land of tall buildings, you will find it. Follow the compass, and you will find home."_

_Written in blood, this crumpled piece of paper is all a man has left, besides food, water, a compass, and the clothes on his back, and his two swords. He knows nothing, remembers naught but how to fight. And with that, he gathered his things, and began to walk in the direction he was pointed, to embark on the long, precarious journey that lay before him. It took him many days and long, sleepless nights. He knew if he didn't sleep, it would eventually wear him down to the point that he could no longer stand. But he had to keep going, he knew that if he stayed where he was, then he would most surely die. So he ventured onwards, holding onto what little hope he had of living. And find it he did, after a journey that took everything he had. After twelve days, and three of those without eating, he finally reached the city, barely able to stand. Using one of his swords for a crutch, he pressed on using sheer force of will alone. At this point, he no longer needed the compass he bore; he knew where he had to go, for how could something so huge not be seen? Either way, his journey had almost come to an end. However, a man appears before him, bearing ill intent. He was a large, musclebound man, with spikey blonde hair. With a deep, resounding voice, he said_

"And just who the heck are you supposed to be? With your funny looking outfit and your funny looking face?"

_To which, the nameless man just replied_

"That's something I'm hoping to find out. Please just move, I don't want any trouble..."

Annoyed and raring for a fight, the blonde man said

"Well look at that, he doesn't want trouble he says! HA! Well, son, I'm sorry to say, you just found trouble."

He puts on his gloves and begins to stretch out his arms when he further states

"You idiot, I dunno who the heck you think you are, but I sure as hell aint gonna move for you. I don't even know you!"

"Excuse me" A voice calls out from afar, "Am I interrupting something, 3rd Degree?"

_It was Byaku, a young fire mage, standing with his arms crossed, staring intently at the Plasma mage, called '3__rd__ Degree'._

"Who the hell are you supposed to be? Some hot-shot from the news? You think you're sooo~ special just because you took out an earth elemental you can interrupt ME?"

Byaku: Yep

_He said as he lunged at the burly man, slamming him in the face, sending him flying back a few metres._

3rd Degree: *cracks neck* was that supposed to tickle, little man?

Byaku: No, but this is meant to singe!

_He said as he flung a fire ball at 3__rd__ Degree's face, thinking that it would barely warm his face, took the hit full force, he was right, but only partly…_

3rd Degree: HA! I knew that would only warm my glorious face! HA!

Byaku: You may want to look at your 'glorious face' again, dumbass

3rd Degree: Huh?

_The oaf of a mage started touching his face, trying to find if anything was amiss, when…_

3rd Degree: AH! MY EYEBROWS! MY BEAUTIFUL EYEBROWS! WHAT DID YOU DO THEM!? *sob*

Byaku: what? You don't like your re-designed face? I think it's fitting, a dumb face, for a dumbass.

_3__rd__ Degree couldn't help but run away crying into his hands because of what happened to his 'glorious face'. Meanwhile, the nameless man simply stared in wonder at this mysterious person who leapt to his aid without being asked._

Byaku: Hey, are you alright? He didn't do anything to you did he?

"Uh-no, no I'm fine." He thought for a minute. "Why did you help me? You had no obligation whatsoever. And it's not like I needed it, anyway.."

Byaku: Do you really expect me to believe that? You can barely stand, let alone swing those swords of yours, if I hadn't of come, that brute would have beaten you simply because you looked at him, assholes are funny like that.

"…I guess you're right, I'd ask your name, but I can't give you mine..."

Byaku: It's fine my friend, the name's Byaku, are you sure you don't have a name? Not even a nickname to go by?

"I'm sorry Mr. Byaku, but I don't have a name. I don't remember it. Twelve days ago I just… woke up. Couldn't remember a thing. All I had was what you can see now. And this note. Written by someone that knew me before, I guess.

Byaku: I see *reads note* so all you've done since waking up is making your way to the academy? For twelve days straight? No wonder you look terrible, have you been eating or drinking?

"Not for the past three days, at least."

Byaku: well then, let's get you indoors and get some food and water in you, come with me, my apartment is nearby.

"Thank you Mr. Byaku."

_Byaku lead the nameless man to his apartment, fed him, and let him rest as he studied the man's belongings, trying to see if there was anything that could give him some sort of back story other than "I woke up this one time, it was pretty cool". When he studied the man's blades, not only did he notice the swallows engraved on the tsubas, but the word "Ame" engraved along the blade in eastern script. When the man awoke, Byaku commented on this._

Byaku: Hey, I've been studying your gear, when I noticed the word "Ame" engraved on your blades, I can read it but I don't know the meaning.

"Then, may I?"

Byaku: Sure, go for it.

"Hm…'Ame'… as in, 'Rain'…"

_Byaku started thinking intently for a few seconds._

Byaku: Well then, you said you were looking for a name didn't you? That seems to be fitting. Greetings Ame of the Rain, I am Byaku Yakate! Pleased to meet you!

_Byaku Grins as he holds out his hand to shake Ame's_

Ame: uh-right, well then, if I'm Ame 'of the Rain', then I guess it'd be fit to call you "Byaku of the Flame", right? Um...hi. (This is friendship, right..? it feels… refreshing. I'll be sure to cherish it.)

_Ame smiles as he returns Byaku's handshake._

Byaku: also, seeing as you're new here, why not give you a "Welcome Home" present of sorts, here, have this scarf, I remember my father giving me this when I was very young to keep me warm during the winter, I think you should have it, so you have something to remind you of where your new home is.

_Byaku smiles intently as he gives Ame what will now be his most cherished possession._

Ame: I don't know what to say… wait what? A 'welcome home' present? What do you mean?

Byaku: what? You got rocks in your brain? You can live here in my apartment if you want to, trust me when I say not everyone is as generous when it comes to accommodations.

Ame: uh-right! Thank you for letting me live here, I won't let you down! *bows* (This kindness, it's odd. why is he being so generous towards me? We've literally just met; can it be that he genuinely cares about me? Or does he have some other goal? No, to give me something so precious… I sense no scheme.)

Byaku: Very good! You can start by getting yourself enrolled in the academy, that's what you came here for wasn't it?

Ame: R-right! I almost forgot, I don't know where the academy is from here! Can you take me?

Byaku: Of course, that's what friends are for! Follow me; I'll get you enrolled before you can say 'Merlin's Beard!'

_And so Byaku lead Ame to the administration office where students go to enrol in Hope's Pillar Academy, but along the way, Byaku saw someone quite familiar. An Elven boy about the same age as Byaku and Ame, his skin was slightly darker than most people's, he was a desert elf you see, and he gets a lot of sun. His red dreadlock's were tied back into a ponytail, he had Yellow eyes that seemed to contrast with his red hair. He wore a dark red singlet and black jeans, he also wore a pair of Grey sneakers with orange details and shoelaces, as soon as he saw Byaku, he boomed with Laughter._

"By the stone! Byaku Yakate, I didn't think I'd be seeing you here for at least a few more years!

Byaku: Quels! Jeez how long has it been? 2, 3 years? It's good to see you man.

Quels: Don't I know it! I heard about your mother, my condolences, how ya been?

Byaku: Yeah, It's been rough…haven't been sleeping much, ya know?

Quels: Yeah, I hear ya.

Ame: Um…Pardon me, but what exactly are you two talking about?

Byaku: Oh right, Quels, this is Ame, I was taking him to get enrolled in classes, and Ame, this is Quels, he's an old friend of mine from when I lived in Death City. Yeah, long story short, my mother passed away recently, that's actually the reason I came to Hope's Pillar in the first place.

Ame: That's all well and good, but… 'By the stone' sounds like an odd thing to say as a greeting. What does it mean..?

Byaku: It's sort of a dwarven thing to say. It's like how you'd say 'good day' or something like that.

Ame: A… A dwarven thing..?

Byaku: yeah. What, don't tell me ya don't know what a dwarf is!

Ame: …y-yeah, I know what a dwarf is… (What could a dwarf possibly be..? wait… 'Dwarf'… as in… a short person..? Is Byaku a dwarf, maybe..?)

Byaku: So what classes are you going to be in Quels? We could be in the same class?

Quels: I doubt we'll be in the same class, being an Earth Mage I'm going to be in very different classes, unless you have a Sub-School of Magmus (Lava) then we won't be in the same class.

Byaku: Why's that?

Quels: If you have Magmus as a Sub-School, then you'd possibly be able to learn a little bit of earth magic, so we might be in the same class in that circumstance.

Byaku: Right

Ame: (Sub-School? What could that possibly be..? So many strange new terms I haven't heard before…)

_A Sub-School is a secondary school of magic that students can learn, a Sub-School is a combination of the Mages main school and another school of magic, for example, 3__rd__ Degree is a Plasma mage, so his Sub-School is plasma, a combination of Fire and Electricity, and as Quels mentioned, Magmus is the Sub-School of lava, a combination of Fire and Earth._

Quels: Anyway, I need to get going, I have to run a few errands for some teachers, catch ya later Byaku!

_Quells calls out as he quickly runs off, leaving Byaku and Ame to continue on to the administration office. It takes the two some time to get there, they even managed to get lost at one stage. Eventually though, they manage to find their destination. They arrive, opening large, oaken double doors, to find an enormous room, somewhat lavishly decorated and filled with a myriad of staff, students, guests and the like. _

Ame: Now that we're here… what do we do? It isn't like we can just interrupt some of these people. They look pretty busy…

Byaku: Oh, don't worry about that! Look, there's a lady over there who looks free enough!

Ame: …Well, if you say so…

_In an attempt to inquire about Ame's enrolment at the academy, they make their way over to a young, slender brown-haired woman, sitting at a mahogany desk, when she would sigh and inquire…_

"What can I do for you?"

Ame: uh, well if it isn't too much trouble… um…

Byaku: he wants to enrol.

"Oh, I see. Well, I'm going to need you to fill this out, then."

The woman would hand Ame a form with a large number of boxes and blank spaces.

"It's no rush, but once you get that filled in, you need to hand that to someone and they'll get it processed. If it gets through, then you're gonna be given a few tests. Pass those well enough, and you're in. don't take 'em lightly, or you'll regret it. Hell, if you actually manage to get to roughly the top o' the curve, you might get into some advanced classes."

Ame: …'the curve'..?

"Yeah, the curve. Well, it's not a physical thing, it's just some averages and stuff and it usually forms something of a curve that… ugh, just try to do well. There's the form, fill it and you _might_ get a _chance_ at being a student here."

Ame: …Right, well, thanks. I'll be sure to get this back to you soon. Oh, uh, Byaku? Do you want one as well? While you're here and all.

Byaku: Nah, I'm fine. Consider me enrolled already! Literally, Headmaster Mortimer himself enrolled me into the academy.

Mortimer: Speaking of which…

Byaku: WHAT THE HELL?! DON'T DO THAT, YOULL GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK!

Mortimer: Hehe, sorry about that! I was simply walking by, and thought I would be so bold as to venture into… _THE ADMINISTRATION ROOOOOM!_

_He would giggle quietly to himself, and continue to speak._

Mortimer: Anyway, it's lucky you're here. I wanted you to take an enrolment form. While you _do _have a guaranteed place here, it would be best if you still went through the proper channels. If you were allowed to bypass all the systems, just because you managed to save a whole bunch of people, everybody would be doing it! Besides, if you don't fill this out, we won't be able to get you the classes you want most!

Byaku: Oh, so I need this after all..?

Mortimer: In a matter of speaking, yes, I suppose you do.

Byaku: then, yeah, sign me up then!

Ame: I think that's your job…

Mortimer: (who IS he..? I knew about Byaku, I could find out as much about him as I needed, with little to no effort at all, but this young man..? Nothing. I've done all I can, and I can't get a single thing out of him. No name, not even a single… wait. Is he..?-)

Ame: excuse me? Sir? You've been looking at me for some time now. It's beginning to seem a bit weird.

Mortimer: wh-oh, sorry. I, um, well, it's good to know Byaku's making friends already. Um… good day.

_And with that, Mortimer hastily excused himself in silence. Byaku, knowing that his mind was read, wondered why it was that the headmaster never did the same with Ame. Moreover, why did he give out such an odd reaction? Byaku became more and more confused as he continued to try and unravel the mystery before him. All the while, the expression on Ame's face began to darken. Noticing this, Byaku grew concerned._

Byaku: hey, is everything alright..?

Ame: …

Byaku: Ame, if something's wrong, tell me! Please.

Ame: …He knows.

Byaku: knows… what…?

Ame: Something. Something I don't. Something about me. Something I _will _find out.

Byaku: Hey now, first things first. We need to fill out these forms, and fast. If there's a more popular academy for mages than this, I haven't heard of it. Which means, if we don't get this done fast, I won't be able to do what I need to, and you might not get a spot at all. So calm down, okay?

Ame: I am calm. But yes, I know what you mean. Thank you for being so concerned about me. You're right, my personal issues can wait, if I don't get in here, then I'll probably have to wait another year. So, let's fill this form out together, shall we?

Byaku: Right!

_The two walk over to the nearest empty desk and begin reading the form._

"_#1 :( If learned) Element of choice- Fire, Water, Earth, Electricity, Technology"_

Ame: I can't help but notice… where's air? In number one?

Byaku: Air? Dude, that's technically a sub-school, why? Is air your main school?

Ame: I was just wondering… what? What do you mean it's a sub-school..? (Damn it, I'm still not sure what that is, exactly…)

Byaku: man, don't you know about all the criminals that misused air magic and all that? The government basically stopped the teaching of air magic wherever it could, to prevent threat to stability.

Ame: …i-i… I see…

Byaku: it's not like they've outlawed it or anything, they haven't done anything that drastic. They just don't want a wave of criminals like that popping up again… wait a second. My form does mention the air element!

Ame: and my one doesn't… do you think I was supposed to have the form you have?

Byaku: well, it couldn't hurt to swap forms right? They're just sheets of paper. But, why must your form have the air element option? Is your main school air magic?

Ame: I was waiting till the time we would be tested to keep this a secret, but… yes. I'm an air mage. I'm able to harness the wind around me and expend magic energy in order to create anything from a breeze to a hurricane.

Byaku: …whoa…

Ame: what's wrong? Is it so surprising that I can do air magic?

Byaku: well, yeah, actually. It kind of is. I mean, no one's really been known to do air magic for… what, a few decades, I think? It's kind of a lost thing, I guess.

Ame: it's odd to hear you say that. You say that it's so elusive, so strange ad rare, yet to me, it feels so familiar. Air magic is like breathing to me. Well, to be honest, I can't actually say that, but I definitely know that I've been able to use it for a long time, otherwise I wouldn't be so familiar with it. Anyway… can I have that form? I kind of need it.

Byaku: sure, I guess. I just hope you don't get into any trouble 'cause you're an air mage. It can be tough, being the odd one out. Here…

_Byaku passes his form to Ame, as Ame passes his form to Byaku. They begin filling in the form, using rather conveniently placed stationary on the desk. it's an arduous task, but they eventually manage it. Ame attempts to keep what he put down on there a secret from Byaku, as he wanted to keep it a surprise to him, come examination time. After that, they try to find the person they spoke with earlier, to hand in their newly filled forms… to discover she isn't there anymore. _

Byaku: crap! She's not there! Or anywhere! Its like she vanished or something! Ugh, now what do we do…

Ame: Calm down, she can't have been gone for long. Wait, what time is it..?

_Ame would scan the room for a window. Finding one after a few seconds, he looked out to the sky and found out that they, to their surprise, were actually there for quite some time. The sky was a rich amber colour, and the sun was setting slowly behind the horizon. It seems they took far longer in filling that form than they first thought! _

Ame: it doesn't have to be that woman in particular, right? There aren't as many, but some are still here.

Byaku: I guess… whelp, let's hand these in, then!

_They find another lady with basically the same job, and hand in the forms. Now all that needs to be done now is wait. In the meantime, though, they make their way back to the apartment, to end, what is to Ame, a very long day. But when they arrived, they found a note floating in front of their door._

Byaku: huh? What's this, a note? From...The Academy, ok.

Ame: What does it say?

Byaku: it says…

_To all first year students._

_If you are receiving this note, then you have been accepted into the evaluation stage of your enrolment, there will be an entry exam one week from now for those who have made it this far, we (the teachers) expect that you have purchased the basic textbooks that you will need for your classes, like your Arcane Arts textbook for example. If you manage to pass the entry exam (don't worry, it's sort of easy) then you will be officially students of Hope's Pillar Academy. We hope you all do well and hope to see you in the opening ceremony._

_Sincerely  
The teachers and staff of Hope's Pillar Academy.  
Written by Lady Pyra Flamose, Leader of Pyrus School._

Byaku: huh, it basically says that we have an entry exam next week and that we need to have our textbooks ready for when the school year actually starts

Ame: oh, very informative-

Byaku: OH CRAP! You don't have any books for your classes!

Ame: I'm sure it's fin-

Byaku: No it's not fine! We need to get you some books!

_Byaku says as he grabs Ame's arm and runs from the apartment complex and into the market district to, hopefully, find a shop that's still open that sells first year textbooks._

_But don't worry, Byaku was able to find a shop and buy Ame the books he needs, so all is well._

_**Byaku and Ame end up returning to the apartment and finally settle in for the long year of study ahead of them, and also the many challenges and threats they must face, but not just as the two of them, for these kinds of teams work most effectively in threes, but that is a tale for the next chapter of Project MANA! Stay tuned for next week's chapter and far-thee-well!**_


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three- First day.**

The two boys, Ame and Byaku, woke up to the sun brightly shining through the window. Ame, however, was on the couch, having insisted on not using the spare room, on the account of it being "too much of a burden" according to him. He laid awake on his side, reflecting on the past events. After what seemed like ages, he heard a loud, tired groan, and a soft thud come from up the hall. He got up, realising that he was still fully clothed complete with sandals, and even wearing the scarf that Byaku had given him. He adjusted it quietly, going up the hall and knocking on the door. "M-Mr. Byaku? Are you alright in there? That sounded painful." Another tired groan answered, and Ame sighed and opened the door. He stepped inside and saw Byaku halfway between the bed and the floor, the blanket covering the bottom half of his body, his feet suspended in the air. "Uhm.." Ame stared at Byaku for a good five minutes. "Mphh. What time is it?" Byakus muffled voice said against the floorboards. "Around nine o'clock or somewhere close, judging by the sun. Opening ceremony starts at ten, so maybe you should get up." Ame looked over the dishevelled, groggy teenager again, spotting the large flame encased inside a pentagon on his pyjamas. "What's this?" He had seen it at the school, on one of the banners in the hall. "Pyrus logo. Birthday gift from my brother, some years back." He said as he slid off the bed onto the floor, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "the emblems all patched." Ame pointed out, leaning against the doorframe. "Vince can't sew at all, but he tried. It was a really crappy shot though." He chuckled, getting up and tossing his blanket onto the bed. "Go and find something to eat. I don't have much, maybe we can get something from the morning market before the ceremony." Byaku nudges Ame out of the door, closing it to get dressed.

Ame stood in the kitchen and pulled a green apple out from the cupboard, being careful not to spill the others. He cut off the bits that were soft with a knife and ate it while he waited, hearing Byaku come up the hall, wearing the same clothes he was wearing the day before. "Didn't you wear those yesterday?" Ame inquired, looking Byaku up and down. "Speak for yourself." He said grumpily, grabbing his glasses off the kitchen counter and sliding them onto his face over his eyes. He walked past Ame and took a knife from the drawer, walking to the bread loaf on the counter and hastily slicing two pieces, taking a jar of peanut butter from the cupboard and spreading some on one slice, putting the other on top and eating it. "What are you eating?" Ame tilted his head as he looked at Byaku, who slid the jar towards him. "Try it. It's peanut butter." Ame tried a bit, and screwed up his face. "That is disgusting!" Byaku laughed and finished his breakfast. "Yeah yeah. C'mon we gotta go." He packed the breakfast items away and closed the cupboard, as well as the curtains and turning the lights off as they left, locking the door behind him and leaving the building, Ame behind him as they headed to the Academy.

"Man the place is crowded!" Byaku said a little excitedly as he looked around in his seat and the mass of students in the hall. A stage was put up at the front and some staff members and four school students sat down in chairs, discussing things between each other while the headmaster stood in front of a microphone in front of the people. "Yes. There are many people attending." Ame nodded, turning his head when someone tapped on his shoulder. "Excuse me? Is it alright if I sit beside you? There are no other seats except for in front of the rest of the staff, and I don't like to be near them where I get the option." A small girl with a long tumble of red hair, who wore a long army coat and what seemed light a dog collar around her neck, next to her basic black shirt and pants said meekly, a British accent smothering her words. "Sure. Mr. Byaku, can you move up a little please?" he turned to Byaku, who nodded and stood, sitting in the empty chair beside him, Ame moving too and making space for the girl, who sat down with a small "Thank you." The jacket hung off her body loosely, and the sleeves appeared too big, as they covered her hands, which gently held the sides of the seat, her legs swinging back and forth, softly scraping against the ground.

"_Ahem! Quiet please!" The headmaster finally spoke with a warm smile, the chatter dying down until the hall was silent. "Thank you. Welcome, all, to a fresh year at Hope's Pillar Academy! I'd like to welcome new staff members, new students, and to all others I have failed to mention!" a small round of laughter came from the crowd. The headmaster grinned. "Now. As most of you know, this year is the first year that we accept students from the Technosis schools, and I would like to mention those students that have enrolled and passed their tests. Welcome all you bright young students, and I hope you achieve your best!" the crowd cheered and clapped, and Byaku joined them, while Ame and the strange girl sat silent and confused. After a few seconds everyone sat down and silence hung over the hall. "Now, on a different note. If I call your name, please stand up on your chair so everyone can see you. From Airus, Marnee Elgrid." A girl with peach pink hair and blue glasses stood up on her chair with a soft smile. "From Geosus, James Sutcliffe." A boy near the front with tousled hair and formal clothes stood and waved a little to everyone. "And last but not least, Mack from Technosis" A guy with stubble and messy brown hair with matching jacket stood on his seat, a proud smirk on his lips. "Congratulations to these people, our new school pillars!"_

-A few hours later, after the remains of the ceremony-

"That took longer than I had thought it would." Ame said as he walked to the schools garden beside Byaku. "Yeah. My legs got kinda stiff in those chairs." Ame nodded in agreement. They found a bench beside a large tree, and they sat down. "Did you get a letter that tells you what classes you're attending besides the classes the school makes you attend?" Ame shook his head. "No. I have no address, how could they send it?" "I was kidding, silly. I've got it." Byaku handed Ame a piece of paper, with his name on it. "That's your subject list for the year. You get a new one every year telling you what lessons you have and when you have them." Byaku sighed happily, leaning back against the bench. Ame leaned back too until he heard tiny noises in the tree that sounded like things blowing up, as well as clashing blade and someone yelling. "Is there a fight in the school grounds?" Ame said, and Byaku sat up, looking around. "Doesn't seem to be. Are you okay?" Byaku replied with a shrug, leaning back again. The noises kept going, and something rustled in the tree. Suddenly, the girl from the ceremony popped out from the leaves, playing on a small gaming console while hanging upside down from the tree. She hadn't yet noticed the two, and kept pressing the buttons and occasionally frowning, her tumble of flame red hair scraping against the ground and collecting leaves and twigs. Ame cleared his throat to get her attention, and she squeaked in surprise, her game console snapping shut as she fumbled to catch it, holding it close to her chest. "H-Hello! Sorry I didn't notice you!" She dropped from the tree, fixing up her jacket, her hands barely visible from the sleeves. "No its fine." Byaku stood next to Ame, a grin on his expression. "I'm Ame. This is my friend." He gestured to the boy beside him. "I'm Byaku. Byaku Yakate." The girl nodded. "M'names Gadget Elgrid. My sister is the new Airus pillar." She smiled. "My brother is the Pyrus pillar." Byaku said excitedly, and they shook hands. Gadget turned to Ame and outstretched her hand to him, pushing her sleeve up, but Ame only looked at her confused. "Here." She gently lifted his wrist up. "You interlock hands like that, and shake. It's a formal greeting. Don't use it all the time, some people here don't like this greeting, or prefer a wave or just a smile and nod." She said quietly, finally shaking hands with Ame properly. A loud bell sounded, and the school gates creaked as they opened. "Time to leave. See you guys tomorrow, I checked the school times, you two have History of Magic first tomorrow. That starts at eight thirty, so be up early." She smiled, joining the crowd of leaving students. "Well, guess we're leaving too." The two boys left last, heading home for the day.

"So how did you like the speech? You were paying a mighty amount of attention to it." Byaku laughed as they entered the apartment. Ame nodded silently, pondering on his response. "He does this every year? He seems a little…off, to me." "Nah, he likes to joke around a bit, and keep the Academy happy. He's a bit kooky, but you'll get used to it. Most of the new students have already gotten used to it, it seems." He laughed again, sitting down on the couch. Ame sat himself on a stool at the kitchen counter and looked over towards his friend. "Can I ask another question?" Ame fidgeted a little. Byaku nodded, leaning against the couch and closing his eyes. "Do all classes contain the same students?" Byaku shook his head. "Lessons like History of Magic, and Arcane arts, everyone attends, but other lessons are optional. For example, You chose Basic Alchemy and Intermediate Magic defense, among other classes." He kept his eyes closed, yawning. "How are you tired?" "Ah shuddap, back home I slept in a lot. Besides the ceremony took ages!" He whined, and Ame huffed a little. "Okay. Well how long until dark?" Byaku shrugged. "I dunno. Clock stopped working ages ago." He shrugged again, getting up and walking to the window. "Who the hell is being so loud this time of the day?!" He opened the curtain and saw a large group of students from the Ceremony walking through the street, chattering and laughing. Jett was amongst them, and she followed behind the group, pulling behind her a small silvery wagon full of machine bits and colourful containers, a grin on her face. Vincent, Byaku's brother, looked up at Byaku's window, beckoning them to come down and join them. "Looks like some kids from school are having a party. Wanna go?" Ame tilted his head. "Whats a party?" Byaku sighed and took his arm. "Lets just go, and you can find out." Ame followed, shutting the apartment behind him. As they left the building, a few students were waiting at the door. "C'mon guys!" The students grinned and laughed, leading them into the group as they started moving again. "So where are we going?" Byaku said after leaving the group with Ame and walking at the back. "Parkin's field, just up ahead." Jett pointed at the sign. "Ah." Byaku nodded, putting his hands in his pockets. "What's all this?" "It's a surprise! Ya brother was being a nag about this, and I ain't allowed to tell anyone." She frowned and kept walking. Soon after the group arrived at a large open field, and there were already people there, one person standing up on a raised platform playing music for the rest, who were setting up a bonfire and setting up cups and drinks on a small table. Others were setting up chairs and laying down blankets to sit on. "Ta-Da! Mack and your brother wanted a party to ease the stress off some of the kids." Jett shrugged, walking off from the two, dragging her small wagon over towards and empty area of grass a fair distance behind the chairs, emptying the contents and putting her jacket in the wagon, setting to work, putting the bits of machinery together.

Two hours later, the party was in full swing, and everyone was having a good time. Byaku found some people to talk to, and they were showing off to each other, while Ame scouted Jett out and talked to her as she continued building, putting a few coloured containers in each of the little machines she made. Ame then handed her a roll of brown twine, which she used to link the three or four machines together. She stood up and signalled to Vincent. In return, he gave her a thumbs up, heading over and crouching by the fuse. "The kids'll go crackers for this, just watch." Jett nudged Ame gently in the chest with her elbow, smiling smugly and crossing her arms. Vincent snapped his fingers and lit the fuse, watching as it slowly run out and split to the four separate fuses. When the fuses ran out, a soft click went off, and the containers shot up into the air, exploding over the group of loud, laughing, dancing students, raining colourful sparks upon them. Everyone cheered and wooped, and Jett giggled. "You've outdone yourself this year Gadget. I've heard what you've been doing in Technosis and for the guys in Primal." Vince clapped her on the back after putting the firework machines in her wagon, covering it with her jacket. "These little machines? Nah, I could do better, but my wagon is too small." They laughed and Vince went back to the group to help with the cleanup. "So I guess school starts tomorrow.." Ame nodded, and Jett shrugged. "Won't be hard, time will fly, just watch." She playfully punched Ame in the arm, but not enough to hurt him. "Anyway, you should get back, your friend is getting impatient." Jett shrugged on her jacket, and walked away, her wagon behind her. Ame and Byaku walked home silently, tired, and went into the apartment, exchanging a goodnight and Byaku trudged down the hall, going into his room and falling asleep on top of the bed, while Ame laid on his side on the sofa, falling asleep after a while, prepared for whatever school had for him the next day.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4- New Friends**

"Byaku come on, we don't have that long before our first class." Ame knocked on the door to Byakus bedroom, earning a grumpy groan from the teen. "How long have we got?" Byaku asked angrily, pulling on his clothes. "fifteen minutes." Ame said, staring at the clock on the wall. A sudden thud was heard and Byaku burst through the door. "What?! Are you kidding?! We gotta go now!" He grabbed his bag and stuffed his books in. "you have yours?" Ame nodded. "Well then go!" he ran through the door, fumbling with the lock and dashing down the stairs, slinging his bag over his shoulder as he ran in the direction of the school. After ten minutes they reached the school gates, but they still weren't open. "What's this? Why aren't the stupid gates open yet?" Byaku asked, spotting Vincent, alongside the other Pillars and the headmaster. "I dunno. They open by themselves, so we're waiting." Byaku whined and found Ame again. "We gotta wait." Ame nodded and sat on the ground, reading through his books. "Man you're lame. Who reads their school books in their spare time?" Byaku whined again and sat beside him, laying down on the grass. "Well they're kinda interesting." Ame said, flipping the page. "Laaame!" Byaku got up and brushed himself off as the gates opened. "Finally! C'mon." Ame put his book away and they followed everyone else inside. "Soo…History is this way." Byaku lead Ame to the classroom, taking their seats in the back of the room. The teacher walked in and started the class immediately. When the class was over, the two were one of the first to leave, and they went to the schools garden. "Ugh that was soo boring! How could you even pay attention?!" Byaku complained as he looked through his tiny amount of notes from class. "I learnt a few things, actually." Ame showed Byaku his almost two pages worth of notes. "What?! That's ridiculous, how did you pay attention? He drawled on and on like some sort of robot! Mr. Hewitt is one of the most boring people I've ever met!" Byaku sprawled out on the bench. "Don't get too comfortable, you've got Armed Combat with Mr. Curtis in a few minutes." Ame was looking at Byaku's timetable, and Byaku shot up and snatched it from his hands. "Hey! Don't just go through my stuff like that! What have you even got?" He asked, dropping it into his bag. "I have Geography with Ms. Laven." "Right, well see ya later! Geography is in the same room as History." Byaku said, picking up his bag and leaving. Ame stood, gathering his things and moving on to the next class.

Ame sat quietly in Geography, listening to the teacher speak while he scribbled down notes. He looked up at the board to read, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a group of students run past, followed by two more groups, and a teacher. He felt a pang of worry, and raised his hand. "May I have permission to leave class?" He asked once the teacher acknowledged him, and he stood up and left the room, walking in the opposite direction to the students were running. "What's going on?" He asked, seeing the majority of the class, and The Air Pillar standing at the door. "My sister has anger issues. Vince and his group are trying to get her to calm down now." Ame looked through the door and saw the group of people and Vince surrounding who he recognised as Jett. He noticed that she looked different. Large claws had grown from her hands, and she was acting really aggressive and hostile towards those surrounding her. One tried to jump on top of her and knock her down, but instead was sent flying into the wall. Two others tried and they almost had her, but she growled, spinning so they both flew out the door. Vincent retreated. "They can't hold her down! It's ridiculous how strong she is, she doesn't even have any muscles, she's just skin and bones!" Ame walked around Vincent and entered the room. "Kid are you crazy?! My sister will rip you to shreds!" Marnee followed him in, grabbing her decorative staff as she entered. Gadget stared at them, snarling and baring her teeth. "Don't let those claws get you, they can tear through steel." Marnee warned. Ame nodded, fending off Gadget as she threw wild attacks at the both of them. "Macks the only one who can calm her down, I sent a student to get him." Ame nodded again, thinking of something he could do. "Okay. Get her to get close to you, and use the staff to wind her and push her back to me. Ill hold her down until Mack gets here." "You got guts, kid." Marnee nodded and flapped her hands about to draw gadgets attention, holding her staff defensively as her sister advanced. "Well, c'mon then!" Marnee taunted, and Gadget launched at her. Before she could tear through Marnee, she shoved the end of her staff into her stomach, and while Gadget whimpered and gasped for air, Marnee shoved her back, just as Mack walked into the room. He ran over to Gadget while Ame held her down. Mack spoke to her quietly and she passed out, her claws disappearing. "Get the Student counsellors." He said to Marnee, who ran ahead. "Thanks kid." He smiled and picked Gadget up. "Come and see her when she wakes up, and bring your friend. She'll need a bit of company." He walked out, and the students filled the classroom again, the teacher returning to resume class.

After class had ended, Ame found Byaku and they walked over to the Student Council building. Gadget was already sitting on the front steps, staring at the ground, her jacket over her shoulders. Mack walked over. "Thanks guys. She could use some company and positivity." He looked over his shoulder, then back. "If you guys end up being her friend, try and make her smile. She doesn't smile that often, she's a pretty tortured kid." Ame gave a quiet nod, and after a moment, the two glanced at each other and slowly approached her, and sat down beside her. Some time passed in complete silence as they did so, the air thick with tension. Stricken with uncertainty, Ame finally broke the silence, saying "We're here for you. I don't know what it's like; I don't understand what you're going through. But I don't know a lot of things. If you tell me, I probably won't be able to relate, but-" at that moment, gadget quickly rose. With great distress and tears in her eyes, she shouted "no, you won't be able to relate, so just stop trying to! You're here for me?! Give me a break; you've barely even met me! To you, all I am is the girl who sat next to you, that sits in trees and has ONE BUGGERIN' 'ECK OF A PROBLEM! Don't you DARE just pop up out of nowhere and start acting all friendly with me, like we're childhood friends or something! Just because you don't have any of your own isn't my bloody problem!" she ran off, tears streaming down her face. Byaku got up and stated "we have to..." Ame put one hand on his shoulder and shook his head. "Let's just go home." Byaku gave out a short sigh, and they began to make their way back.

Nothing but silence seemed to surround them. The streets looked dead, and the city around them seemed to look somewhat different to how it usually seemed… until they were interrupted near the end of the trip. "Hey, you!" a loud, deep and somewhat familiar voice echoed from a short distance behind them, as a brawny, towering blonde man came walking behind them. It was third degree. Closing in fast, he slid his hands in his pockets, to reveal a pair of leather gloves with strange circular patterns on them. Continuing to advance on the duo, he raised his voice; "you think you're clever, don't you, singing my eyebrows, just 'cause ya could! Well, maybe you'd like some…" he paused, as his fists began arc with electricity. "…shock therapy." He smiled maliciously, as his pace began to pick up. Byaku began to move forward, when Ame stopped him once more, this time with a dark look on his face. "Let me." With no regard for Byaku's opinion on the matter, he began to advance in byakus stead. He was greeted with "ah, it's you! I been meaning to give you a nice solid beating, ever since I met you. Something about you ticked me right the hell off, and I can't quite put my finger on it!" Ame stopped, and with a short pause, he said quietly "you're vile. Look at you." To which, the man responded "what? That's it?! That's all you can come up with?!" he began to run, his hands sparking all over the place. "That's really quite SHOCKING NOW, ISNT IT?!" as Ame came into striking distance, he said "talk to the hand." As he proceeded to make a short step forward, and struck third degree with his palm, being flung backwards to ridiculous proportion, almost out of sight, even. Holding his shoulder in some amount of pain, he began to make his way back to Byaku. Byaku, worried about Ame's arm, asked "are you okay? You didn't have to do that." Ame gave a subtle nod, as he continued back to their apartment. The two finally got back, and at the door, an envelope, stuck to the door, and a distinctly red hair stuck on the envelope. "That's..!" Ame slowly removed the tape from the door, and entered. Ame retreated into his room, and opened the envelope, to see a letter which reads:

"Ame-

Look, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I've just been through a few things, and I guess I just needed to vent a bit. It's funny, I feel better, but at the same time, I feel so much worse. At this point, I guess I should count myself lucky I had the chance to vent. I mean, before now, I never really had anyone I could say that kind of thing to. No one to… That's for another time. All I wanted you to know is that I'm sorry."

After reading the letter, Ame folded up the letter and placed it on coffee table in front of him, and sat on the couch, looking out the window at all the buildings in Hope's Pillar, pondering what could possibly have happened to Gadget to make her have these "anger issues". He glanced at the now-empty envelope and noticed there was something still inside. It was a small piece of metal, with the symbol on Ame's necklace engraved on it. He held it tight to his chest, for something about it made him feel warm in some way he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Meanwhile, Gadget had just arrived at her home/workplace, the Hope's Pillar Orphanage, she had managed to stop sobbing by that time, and just silently walked into her room to get changed into her black and white kimono and begin her daily chores. The night came somewhat quickly, after another long and eventful day, Byaku and gadget lay on their beds, Ame on the couch, when suddenly a strange noise began to come from the young fire mage's stomach. "Oh crap! I've forgotten to get anything to eat!" Byaku went through some drawers near the couch to find a takeaway menu of some sort, since he had barely anything to cook with, let alone knowledge to cook. Jett, at the time, was coming home from the market as it closed, and passed by the apartment complex, seeing Byaku panicking at the window. She laughed, picking up a stone. She tossed it at the window, hard enough to get his attention, but not hard enough to leave a mark on the window. Byaku jumped and fell back, making Jett laugh again. He opened the window and peered out. "What?" Jett scoffed, laughing. "What are ya flapping about for? You look like a distressed yellow flamingo!" Byaku frowned. "Shuttup. I was just looking for a takeaway menu." "No food?" Byaku shook his head. "Come over, there's always spare food for anyone." She smiled. "Although I do suggest you bring a fork. Lady Tayama only lets us use chopsticks." "Who's Lady Tayama?" Jet shook her head with a grin. "Just meet me at the building two blocks from the market." She walked off, and Byaku nodded, shutting the door. "What's going on?" Ame asked from the couch. "Gadget invited us over for dinner. Wanna come with?" Ame nodded and stood up. "She wants us to meet her at the building two blocks from the market. So let's go." They left the apartment, walking in silence. As they neared their destination, Byaku sighed. "The orphanage? I think we took a wrong turn. Let's go." Ame grabbed his arm. "Hang on." He saw Jett waving at them just outside of the building. "She's there." Byaku turned around. "Right. I knew that. I was just kidding." He grumbled and stuffed his hands inside his pockets, walking towards her. "Hey guys! thought for a minute that you weren't coming!" She smiled. "Come inside, I'm just organising the children for dinner." She smiled and took her shoes off. "I suggest you do the same. Lady Tayama isn't afraid to hit anyone if they forget their shoes." She smiled, walking inside. Ame and Byaku kick off their shoes and align them. "So who exactly is this person?" Jett shook her head. "You'll meet her after dinner. Now then. Dinner line, kids!" A small amount of children come out from the bedrooms and happily form a line. "Vegetarians at the back, allergies at the front, and the rest in the middle." She grinned, and the kids switched positions. "Remember, Blue bowls for allergies, red bowls for vegetarians, and green for the rest!" She smiled and opened the door as the kids walked in calmly, taking their seats at the table. She went into the kitchen and grabbed three extra green bowls and three sets of chopsticks. "Eat outside? The kids and Lady Tayama fill the table. Marnee eats in her room, and we can't eat on the floor." She passes each of the boys a bowl and a set of chopsticks, stepping out the door and sitting herself on the grass. Ame looked around, bewildered at the place. "What IS an orphanage, exactly..?" he asked. "There are so many small children, all in the one place… and there only seems to really be one person looking after them…" gadget giggled. "Gee, you really are clueless, aren't you?" she teased. Ame just looked down at his plate and frowned. Realising Ame didn't take her comment as a joke, she patted Ame on the shoulder and said; "hey, cheer up! Just 'cause you don't know a few things, doesn't mean that ya can't get around out here! It's probably what you're not used to, but… where did you come from, anyway?" Turning to look at her, Ame simply said "maybe that's a tail for another time. For now, where's the food? I'd hate to be greedy, but I'm a little bit hungry." Realising they never filled the plates she gave them; she smacked her head and called herself a blithering idiot. "Come on, let's go! If we're lucky, there's still some left!" she got up, the two boys following her. They joined the back of a, surprisingly, still rather long line. "Aw, whaaat? How's the line still this long?" Byaku complained. "Relax; I'm sure we'll get there soon." Ame told Byaku, trying to calm him. The line shrunk, but slowly. Byaku began to find it hard to maintain composure, even though he was surrounded by a bunch of little kids. "So, the short man has a short temper…" gadget said, before both she and Ame began to laugh quietly to themselves. "Hey, I'm plenty tall, thanks!" they finally arrived at the table with the food, after a few minutes of idle banter. Observing what was on the table, Byaku's face lit up like the night sky outside. "Aw yeah, sushi!" he exclaimed. Ame wondered why that word felt familiar, and asked him what sushi was. "Just look at it, it's right there! Tasty, beautiful sushi…" he said, pointing it out to Ame. He observed, as though trying to find a memory in this lot of fish, rice and such, to no avail. Trying not to overthink it, he grabbed some of it and moved out of the line, along with the other two. They came back outside, to eat sushi under the stars. The three ate in silence, until Ame broke it. "It's beautiful, isn't it…" confused, Byaku asked; "you mean the stars?" mildly confused, Ame says; "the wha- oh, I'm guessing you mean all those lights in the sky." He leaned back. " Well, those, too, but I meant that it's beautiful, that the three of us are eating delicious food together like this, under a beautiful sky, only after a small amount of time knowing each other. I mean, I got here, just barely… three days ago, now. Who knows what could be happening right now if we hadn't of met like this?" turning to Byaku, he continued… "You could be in your apartment, alone. And you…" he turned to gadget, saying; "you could be cleaning up right now…" then, he stared up into the night sky and fell on his back. "…And me? Who knows what I could be doing! If Byaku hadn't of come along precisely when he did..." he let out a long sigh. "*om-nom-nom* *gulp*…nice….*om-nom-nom*" Byaku said in between shovelling sushi into his mouth. "Yeah, it is kinda nice isn't it." The three-uh, well, two of them sat there staring up into the stars while Byaku stuffed his face.

After they had finished their food and washed up, Byaku and Ame said their goodbyes and returned to the apartment to rest after a long and exiting day, and waiting for what the next day and beyond that had to offer to them.

**End of Chapter 4**


	6. Chapter 5

**Project MANA, Chapter 5, The First Mission!**

It is the start of a new day, and Byaku actually managed to wake up when his alarm went off instead of sleeping through it and getting Ame to wake him up. "Al~right! Today's the day!" Byaku exclaimed as he shot out of bed, somehow already dressed. "*Yawn* what are you yelling about? Today is what day?" Ame said, rubbing his eye as he walked into Byaku's room. "You're never up this early, what could be so important that you would get up early?"

"…Armed Comat Class!" Byaku exclaimed in excitement, Ame stared at Byaku for a few seconds, "You had that yesterday, what makes today to different from then?" He asked confusedly. "It's different because today we learn how to make Construct Weapons!~" Byaku said, almost bursting from the excitement. "uh, I beg your pardon?" Am asked, again in confusion, "Ugh! Don't worry about it now, the teach will explain everything in class, c'mon! We need to get Jett!" "Wha?-WAH! Ok!" Ame said as Byaku grabbed his arm and ran out of the apartment and towards the orphanage, once he grabbed Gadget, they went to the school and waited in the courtyard where they usually wait, but Byaku wasn't sprawled over the bench like he usually is, insead he was jumping up and down on the spot while throwing the occasional jab at the air, pumping himself up for the day's classes, Armed Combat to be precise.

"I don't see why you're so excited about this, it's just armed combat, and besides, you don't even need constructs, you can just use one of the weapons that the academy provides, Ame is pretty good with his blades, and I'm fine with my wrench-staff. We don't need constructs" Gadget said as she pulled a wrench out of her waist pouch, which then proceeded to grow in size until it was the size of a staff, then Gadget began spinning it around to show her point.

"You don't understand, constructs can be summoned and de-summoned at will, meaning there's no need to carry them around, or have to carry hefty sheaths or scabbards around either, and you can multiple different kinds of construct weapons, you could be a weapons expert and no one would know until you picked a fight with them, then BAM! WAM! POW! You've just had your ass kick by 5 different weapons that aren't there anymore! They're amazing!" Byaku explained as Jett just sat there, knowing that Byaku was just talking about what happens in cartoons or that anime stuff. "so what you're saying is…You don't have a weapon yet and you want to use this class to find that out?" Ame said finally. "…Yes, Ame…yes…" Byaku said slightly annoyed that Ame was able to see through his explanation, "But you seem capable with your magic already, why would you need construct weapons?" Ame proceeded to ask, "Because I want to be able to fight mono-e-mono! Man to man/thing, that and I want to be able to cut something in half with a lava-sword…hehe" Byaku said as he looked into the clouds imagining doing just that. "well that's very sadistic, but you'll have to wait until our last period of the day, we have Arcane Arts and History first." Gadget said as she examined their timetable. "Aww what!? Well, I guess we're saving the best for last then!" Byaku said in anticipation. "I've never had arcane arts yet, what is it exactly?" Ame asked. "It's basically non-elemental magic, like charms and stuff, ya know?" Byaku replied. *DING DONG!* A bell rang across the academy, signalling that classes were about to begin. "Aw yeah! Arcane Arts, Here I come!" Byaku exclaimed as he grabbed his bag and ran to the class room "oh brother" Gadget said as she and Ame followed suit and sat with Byaku.

As all the students were seated, a thin, blue haired woman walked into the class room, she announced herself as Ms. Cassidy and began the lesson, as the other students were jotting down notes and well, paying attention, Byaku was almost pulling his hair out with boredom and anxiety waiting for the class to end so he could get to Armed Combat class, when he looked around the room and saw that Jett wasn't paying attention either, but she wasn't as impatient as he was, Jett was simply fiddling with a few strands of her hair, not even listening to what the teacher was saying, after a while, Byaku almost dozed off, when the teacher called out, "excuse me Mr. Yakate, am I boring you?" She said as she raised an eye-brow at the teen. "Uh-no miss! I've been listening to everything you've been saying…hehe…" Byaku said, knowing full well he was busted and trying to cover it up. "Oh? Tell me then, what is the counter-spell I was just talking about to the class?" She asked Byaku, "Uh…r…reflecto?" Byaku said, smiling nervously having no idea what he just said, "…You just made that word up didn't you Mr. Yakate?" "…yeah…" Byaku murmured, trying to make sure none of his other class mates heard him, they did, Gadget giggled to herself, along with all the other students in the class, while Ame looked at Byaku, puzzled as to how he could not be paying attention, counter-spells would be very useful in combat situations, something Byaku would be very interested in knowing.

After the class, the three went back to where they usually meet, and waited for the next class to start. "Really Byaku? Reflecto? That's the best you can come up with?" Gadget asked Byaku as she giggled to herself at how bad Byaku's response was, "Oh come on, it wasn't THAT bad was it?" "I'm sorry but it kinda was, but I don't know why you weren't paying attention, the reason we were being taught counter-spells was to use in combat situations, something I thought you'd be very interested in" Ame said, still confused why he didn't want to learn about combat, seeing as he made such a fuss about it earlier. "Wait what!? All I heard was _'blah blah blah magic and shit'_, I didn't hear anything about using them in combat situations, aw man, now I wish I had payed attention." Byaku frowned to himself, "well, whatever, let's just get through History so we can finally get to Armed Combat!" "alright alright, wonder boy, you want a weapon we get it, sheesh, let's go then, it looks like everyone else is going to their next classes." Gadget said as she pointed the other students moving to the classrooms.

History class went as you would think it would, long, boring and informative to those who payed attention, which to Ame and Gadget's surprise, was Byaku, for once he actually payed attention to the class, mainly to make time go faster for him, but still! To most people's surprise, Byaku was actually quite smart, being able to answer all the questions the teacher posed to the class, and also managed to get around 2 pages of notes, although he doesn't show it, Byaku is very intelligent for someone his age, thinking he'd need to be if he wanted to get into the academy.

As Byaku expected, paying attention and actually doing something in class made time go much faster for him, and before he knew it, it was the end of the class, and Byaku was pumping himself up yet again, "Ok, I know you're exited and all, but do you really need to take it easy or you'll wear yourself out before class even starts" Ame said as he saw that Byaku was starting to yawn again, turning back into his usual self, "What? Nah, I'm, I'm fine-*Yawn* …shuddup…" Byaku said, as ne noticed that he was getting tired, well, he's always tired but you get the idea. "Don't worry Ame, Byaku's always tired, he'll be fine, just as long as he doesn't goof up his constructs he'll be golden." Jett reassured Ame, "Hm…alright then." The three then waited for classes to start again and moved into the training arena for Armed Combat Class. As the class arrived, the teacher was already waiting for them, Mr. Curtis was a tall man with a medium build, and he had red hair with white highlights, signalling his age. Mr. Curtis wore advanced academy combat uniform but with no weapons, only various holsters and sheaths. "Good afternoon class, for those who don't know, I am Mr. Curtis, your teacher for Armed Combat, for today's lesson, we will be learning how to make construct weapons, a symbol of a mage's mastery of their main element, I'd ask for who wants to go first, but I can tell who does, so for that reason…" Byaku was almost bursting with excitement, "We shall do this, in alphabetical order!" Byaku almost died when he heard this, because Byaku's last name starts with a Y, putting in the very last place. Ame kind of felt sorry for Byaku, because even though the order was in alphabetically, with last names coming into account, Ame had to be first, because he had no last name (to his knowledge) so had to go first because his name starts with A. "Mr. Ame, can you please step forward and demonstrate for the class, I believe in teaching through example. So, if you'll please."

Ame nodded and walked to front of the class, next to Mr. Curtis. "Now, focus on your main school element, focus on that and that alone, can you do that for me son?" "… Sir." Ame assumed a stance, as if holding a sword with two hands, concentrated as hard as he could, and suddenly, the air around him began to flow toward and swirl around his hands, but try as he might, he simply could not get the air to concentrate enough to form something compact enough that it could be touched. He continued to try, and again, until he realized he wasn't capable of moulding the air itself into an object. Perhaps he did something wrong? Perhaps the air simply could not be moulded in such a way? He was unsure. He just knew that he was unable to do something all his peers would likely be able to, and that disappointed Ame to some extent.

"Not the best I've seen, but this is a fairly recent practice. Im sure you'll get the hang of it. You can go back now." The others save Byaku and gadget, began to laugh quietly. "…Sir." Ame dispersed the air he tried to bring together and walked back into class and stood next to Byaku and Jett, who tried to comfort him. "As you saw from Mr. Ame, he concentrated on his main element, and on a specific weapon, but as you also saw, the construct was not quite formed. That's to be expected, not everybody can make one on their first go. The only way to get better at something is to work hard at it. Next!..." As the students in the class took their turns, it was eventually Gadgets turn, when she walked up to the front of the class, she didn't even wait for the teachers permission and created an almost digital looking sniper rifle, pointed it around a bit, and de-summoned it and walked back into class, most of the students just stared at her in disbelief, as did Byaku, "How did you do that!" he whispered to Jett, "Magic" Jett replied with a wink. "Uh, ok then, very good Ms. Elgrid, ok, next student please!"

As the rest of the class went through, summoning constructs of various types and degrees of success, eventually all of the students had had their turn, all except young Byaku. "Ah, finally, Mr. Yakate, it's your turn at last, please come to the front of the class please." "Yes sir!" Byaku said as he rushed to the front of the class. "Now, before we see your construct, I believe I should tell the class about combat uniforms, they are optional for missions, but handy when used, even though they may look like standard clothes, they can protect against a lot of damage you may take during a mission, and I believe in my last class, Mr. Yakate showed off his own combat uniform, now if you'll please…" Mr. Curtis said as he made a gesture towards the class. "Ok, watch this." Byaku said as he snapped his fingers. The soles of his shoes suddenly set alight, then the line of flame began to move up his body, revealing that his shoes had changed from white sneakers, to black. As the flame moved up his legs, his jeans for the most part stayed the same, except for a metal pad with a small spike on it covering his right knee, as it moved over his torso, his red hoodie changed to a black t-shirt with the Pyrus logo in the centre of his chest, as well as a Crimson leather jacket with orange flames on the ends of his sleeves form, the jacket also had thick leather pads shaped to look like the Pyrus logo on his shoulders and a large one on his upper back. And as the flame moved over his head, his hair changed slightly, becoming a bit spikier, and a black mask with whited out eye sockets covering his face (something like a stereotypical hero mask). The class was surprised that he could do that, as was Ame, while Jett just shook her head, knowing the class's shock would only inflate his ego. "Very good Mr. Yakate, as you can see, his combat uniform is unique to him, and he has adorned it with his schools logo, as most uniforms do. Now that you have everyone's attention, please summon your construct Mr. Yakate". The teacher said, "Yes sir." Byaku said seriously, "Remember, concentrate on your main element, and a weapon of your choice." Byaku then began focusing intensely on something that he knew he could do, He thought of home, of Death City, then of the grim reaper, commonly known as Death, then he thought of the iconic scythe he uses, that would be his weapon. As he focused, a ring of flame formed around his feet, then Byaku held out his hand, and said aloud, "Scythe!" when suddenly the flames flew into his hand, forming the shape of a small, single handed scythe, then beginning to solidify, as the construct formed, it took on the appearance of brimstone with lava coursing through it, when the scythe finish forming, Byaku decided to up the ante, and held out his other hand, and almost instantly forming an identical copy of the scythe in that hand.

Byaku smiled to himself when he saw what he did, the rest of the class AND Mr. Curtis however, were silent and stared at Byaku as he chuckled at his own accomplishment. "…wow…uh-I mean, well done Mr. Yakate! That's the first time a student has formed TWO constructs on their first ever try, and with such ease too! Well done, well done indeed!" Mr. Curtis said as he snapped out of his trance and began clapping, the rest of the class followed suit as Byaku walked back into his place, de-summoning his constructs and dispelling his combat uniform, Ame and Gadget wide-eyed at Byaku's control over his main school of magic, after only having it for just over a week.

"Yes, Very well done indeed." Said a voice from the back of the group, as the class turned to see who it was, they saw the Headmaster standing there, slowly clapping at the class's accomplishments. "Now THAT is what I'm looking for, Byaku, Ame, and Gadget, can you please come to my office when your class is finished, you won't regret it." Mortimer said as he then turned and walked out of the arena, chuckling to himself as he murmured "why is it always the Yakates that are so flamboyant?" After the class had finished and school was over for the day, Byaku, Ame and Gadget went to find the Headmaster's office, after a few minutes they saw a sign saying that the Headmaster's office was the building in the centre of the academy. It took some time to get there, for the office was only accessible by an exceedingly long flight of stairs, spiralling upwards.

The view became more and more beautiful with each window that passed by, eventually overlooking the whole city, and even then some. They finally reached the top, facing a large pair of double-doors. Amazed at Ame and gadget, an exhausted Byaku asks "how the heck do you guys do it? Climbing all those stairs... My everything hurts…" in response, Ame said "maybe it was to do with height? I mean, you're the shortest, with gadget being somewhat taller than you, and then there's me, noticeably taller than you both." Gadget began to laugh hysterically, bumping into the wall. Byaku did not take it so well, however. "shuddup, her shoes just make her look taller!" in between laughing, gadget tried to say "you're still bloody short! You're only just taller than me! Shorty!" and tried her best to steady herself as she continued to laugh. "I'M NOT SHORT!" Byaku yelled in a huff, as Ame went over to gadget and helped her stand up. Gadget calmed down for about three seconds and asked "hey Byaku, can I ask you something?" he nodded. "What has an 'or' sound, and rhymes with shirt" not thinking Byaku blurted out "short, why..?" in an instant, he realized what just happened. "Oh COME ON!" he said. "Nope, even better; YOU!" gadget began on her hysterical laughing again.

From behind the door, you could hear a man loudly clearing his throat, as if to attract attention. The voice sounded familiar, and gadgets wild laughing came to a halt. The three formed a line in front of the large double doors, and opened them together. Uncertain as to why the three of them were called, the air was tense. None of them had actually set foot in here, as the headmaster would often prefer to go outside his office to deal with affairs. "Do come in, don't be shy!" he offered. They hesitated for a moment, and then entered. The room was quite large and adorned with all kinds of rare magical tools, artefacts, and other antiquities, no doubt from his many years doing all sorts of things. A wooden floor was adorned with a red carpet that led to a very large desk, behind three chairs, and in front of a window overlooking even the clouds themselves. It was all quite something to look at, but they knew they weren't here to admire the surroundings. They were here for the man seated behind the desk. They slowly proceeded forward, nervously. "Take a seat." He said, with a somewhat serious face, as compared to usual. As the trio sat, he got right to business. "Byaku. You remember the elemental you destroyed?" Byaku quietly nodded, too nervous to say anything. "He wasn't alone. They're part of an extremist group with a goal I can't comprehend. I'm not sure what that elemental's aim was, but let me assure you. That one was weak, too weak." Far more nervous than before, Byaku inquired; "…Too weak..? It took most of what I had to defeat him…" Mortimer nodded in agreement. "While that one was no pushover, he had to be the weakest one I'd ever seen. Don't expect to have time to jump around and grandstand, like you did last time. In saying that, you do have company, so don't think this's gonna be mission impossible." Once again, Byaku nodded his head. "In short, what I want you to do isn't to defeat them all, that would be impossible for the three of you, in your state. At least, I want to say that, but I don't think I've seen anywhere near the outer limits of what Ame can do… even after that little fiasco with third degree on your way home that afternoon." Surprised, Byaku asked; "y-you saw that..?" Mortimer nodded. "In any case, you know your mission. You start tomorrow, so rest up while you can. Don't worry about classes, I'll have you excused, and given a summary of what was gone over." Nervous but pumped, Byaku nodded. "dismissed!" said the headmaster, with a smile on his face, as the three proceeded out of the office. Unable to contain his excitement anymore, Byaku jumped up, punched the air and yelled out "HELL YEAH! Our first mission!" "I must admit, this is pretty cool, our first mission, taking down some baddies like in tv shows!" Jett replied in excitement. "I'm so happy I could ski-AH!" Byaku tried to say as he began skipping…but then he realized there were stairs to go down before the actually left the building. "OW! AH! OUCH! CRAP! F**K! SH*T! DAH!" could be heard, along with banging sounds as Byaku bounced down the stairs in an almost cartoon like fashion. "Oh dear! We need to go after him! He could be hurt!" Ame said in shock of Byaku's fall. "I dunno, maybe all that bouncing squished his body parts a bit and made him taller!" Gadget said as she began laughing while walking down the flights of stairs to see if Byaku was ok. Meanwhile, at the bottom of the stairs, Byaku was laying there, groaning as he got up and dusted himself off, "…ouch…who puts stairs THAT close to a door way…stupid old mages…" "Oh, so you didn't die, aw" Jett giggled to herself as she saw Byaku slowly walking out the doors of the building. "Byaku! Are you ok!? Please, let me help you!" Ame said as he rushed to his friend's side, grabbing one of Byaku's arms and drapping it over his shoulder to help Byaku walk. "Thanks man…ouch!" Byaku said as he let his friend take some of the weight, "Ok, Jett, go home and prep for tomorrow, I'm sure we'll be briefed then, now, take me home Ame, I need some ice, a lot of it…ouch!"

And so the three mages went home and began preparing for their first mission in the morning, they had quite the mission ahead of them…right after Byaku practically covers himself in ice after that loony-tunes-esk moment earlier in the day.

**End of Chapter 5.**


	7. Chapter 6

**Project MANA, Chapter 6, Contact**

Last time we saw Byaku, Ame and Gadget, they were preparing for their first mission, which is to investigate the extremist cult that was behind the attack on Hope's Pillar on Byaku's first day in the city.

"Alright Ame, Have we got everything for the trip?" Byaku asked as he looked over the various things the two deemed necessary to bring on their mission. "I think this should be good enough yes." Ame responded. "Alright, let's go get Jett and head to the gates of the city, I'm pretty sure Headmaster Mortimer will be waiting to brief us further in the mission." Ame nodded and the two set off to go get their friend and go towards the gates.

"Hey Jett!" Byaku yelled from outside the orphanage, "You ready yet!? We're heading out soon!" "I know, that's why I prepared last night." Gadget said, somehow behind Byaku and Ame waiting for them. "DAH! Don't do that! …HOW did you do that?" Byaku said, quite startled. "Magic" Gadget said with a wink. "C'mon you slow-pokes, we have a mission remember~" "Yes, let's go" Ame responded. "…magic, pfft, yeah right magic…sneaky little sneak…" Byaku murmured to himself as he followed his two friends towards the gates of Hope's Pillar city. As the three moved through the city, they took a bit of time to observe the sights around them. "I've never seen this side of the city before, it's kinda nice." Byaku said as he looked around. "It is quite the sight isn't it?" Ame responded. "Eh, it's alright I guess, I'm just used to it." Gadget shrugged as she continued walking. "Hey, what's that you're carrying Byaku, some kind of board?" Gadget asked as she noticed what Byaku was carrying under him arm. "Oh this? This, is my hover-board, I've had it for a few years now, but my folks said it was too dangerous to be riding around, so it mostly gathered dust in my closet, but now, I'm free to ride the wind to my hearts contempt!" Byaku replied as he looked at his hover-board, which was red, and had a design similar to that of a big, futuristic sword, having two big edges that ran along the side of the board and ended at the top, but leaving a square gap so the two tips wouldn't touch. It had three hover-pads along the bottom of the board with a boost-pad at the back of the board spanning the width of it, (Basically, think of Sonic's extreme gear from Sonic Riders 1 and that's it). "It certainly looks nice Byaku, but uh, how do you plan on using it during the mission? I'd assume we'd be sticking together as a team, with you on your board, you'll most likely rush ahead and get separated from us." Ame asked in slight confusion as to Byaku's choice of tactics with bringing his hover-board on the mission. "Uh…I…did not think of that…hehe…" Byaku replied. "It's alright, Ame, I have a mechanical griffon waiting at the city gates so we can travel, luckily for you, it has two seats on it." Gadget said in response to Ame's question. "Ah, that's very resours-wait, I beg your pardon? A mechanical griffon? What is a griffion and why do you have a mechanical one?" Ame asked, in complete confusion as to what this 'griffon' thing was. "You REALLY don't know a lot do you Ame?" Byaku chuckled to himself, "A griffion is a beast that has the front body half of an eagle, meaning the head, front legs, and upper torso, and has the back half of a lion, being the hind legs and tail. Griffons also have the wings of an eagle, allowing it to fly when need be. As to the mechanical part, I have to go with Ame on this one, why and how do you have a mechanical griffon, Jett?" Bayku explained to Ame. "Well, I just…made it this one time, I just build mechanical creatures or animatronics from time to time." Gadget replied. "Huh, no kidding." Byaku said as he saw the mechano-griffon come into view. "Well, Might as well mount up now" As he jumped on his board and sped over to the mechano-griffon. "Hm, impressive." Ame said at both Byaku's hover-board and Gadget's Mechno-Griffon.

As Ame and Gadget arrived at the gates, Byaku was sitting on his board, waiting for the two 'slow-pokes' to arrive. "Finally! What took you two, it's been like 5 minutes!" "We were walking, give us some slack, sheesh" Jett said as she put hers and Ame's bags onto the Machano-griffon. "I've been thinking…" Ame said. "We haven't been given a whole lot of information about this mission, we don't even know where the village we're supposed to be going even is." "Huh, I guess you're right, we have not been briefed…huh." Byaku said, thinking to himself why they hadn't been briefed on their mission.

"And that's why I am here!" Said a voice from behind Byaku, making him jump, it was Headmaster Mortimer, with a large grin on his face. "DAH! Stop that old man! Sheesh!" Byaku said as he turned to face the headmaster. "My apologies Byaku, anyway, I'm assuming you all want to be briefed on your mission?" Mortimer said to the team. "That would be appreciated, yes." Ame said in response. "Very good, as I said yesterday, you are being sent to investigate the extremist group within the Elemental Village, Elementos. Located West of Hope's Pillar, the elementals that reside there are of all the various forms that they have appeared in, mainly the main schools of magic manifested into physical form, so be careful on that front." "Ok, that's cool and all, but why exactly are we investigating them? Well, other than the fact that they attacked the city that is." Byaku inquired from atop his board. "Well, we suspect that something foul is afoot with the elementals, normally they are quite docile creatures, not socialising with the other species. But one of then suddenly attacking the city with the intent to destroy, quite unusual, even for an extremist." Mortimer explained. "So we believe that something must have influenced the group to attack…something dark… Now, here is a map directing you to the village." He said as he handed Ame the map, "I know you will be most trust-worthy to hold onto this. Anyway, I must advise that you are as covert as possible, meaning try not to draw the attention of the village guards, and in extension, the village chief. He will have you executed on the spot, then most likely march on the city for violating our 'stay-away-meat-bag' agreement…their name not ours. So you may want to consider this a stealth mission. Now, I believe that's all that needs to be said, goodbye and good luck!" Mortimer said as a large plume of smoke exploded from Mortimer, and when the dust had settled, he was gone.

"Stealth? Meh, we can handle this, right guys!" Byaku said to his team-mates, who were covered in dust from the Headmaster's exit. "Oh…*snickers*…DAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Byaku burst out laughing at the looks on Ame and Jett's faces. As he saw Gadget's face slowly get more and more angry, Byaku decided he'd had his fun. "Ok ok, I'll stop now, dust yourselves off and let's head out for Elementos Village!" "Smart move…Yakate" Gadget said as she walked past Byaku, giving him a stern stare. "Alright, Ame, saddle up, I'm driving!" She said as she mounted the mechano-griffon, Ame nodded and got onto the mechano-griffon behind Jett.

"Alright! Team, roll out!" Byaku called out as he sped off on his hover-board. "Hey! Wait up why-don't-ya!" Gadget yelled out as the mechano-griffon began running after Byaku. There was some time before Ame and jett caught up to the hover board riding byaku, as the three rode, they could see the rolling plains of grass and trees slowly turn into vast sand dunes and dessert. Soon after, they arrived at a somewhat large village, dotted with small buildings, nothing like how hope's pillar was. As they stopped, ame began to scan the surroundings before him. "Is everything alright?" jett inquired. "…it looks… empty." She quickly looked around and realized that ame had a point. It did look empty. TOO empty. With confidence, byaku boomed out "all RIGHT! We're here, let's get looking!" rather underwhelmed at the deduction skills of the teams' supposed leader, he asked "don't you think there's something strange?" byaku paused for a second "w-whaddya mean, Ame..?" gadget simply rolled her eyes. "There's no-one here. Don't you think that's strange..?" Ame tried explaining to byaku. "Strange? I think it's great! Less elementals, less trouble!" ame, disappointed, sighed. "Let's… let's just get out of here… Quickly..." byaku raised his voice in defiance "no! We've come too far to just back away now! That, and it's our first mission!"

"Why, that would be disappointing if you failed, wouldn't it~?" spoke out a shrill voice, not far from where they were. "Blast it all… Who are you?! Come out!" gadget shouted in response to the strange voice. A moment passed, and a large flash of lightning appeared before the trio. "Hello...~" Ame assumed stance, ready for battle. "Now, now, that's not very sporting, is it~?" the lightning elemental formed in front of their eyes. "WATTS up~?" he asked as he began to chuckle to himself. In a quiet, calm voice, Ame just asked "what's your name?" He chuckled to himself some more. "My, my, I'd love to tell you! Instead, why don't you tell me yours~ it'd only be the gentlemanly thing to do...~" Ame remained tense. "…you can call me Ame." The lightning elemental continued to chuckle to himself. He began to laugh. "What a name! Boy, they don't name 'em like they used to!" his laughter trailed off. "You… you may call me… Zapp." Ame softened his stance a little. "Hello, zap... May I ask you some questions..?" Byaku whispered to Ame "hey, what the heck are you doing?!" the lightning elemental snapped "hey, pipe down! Can you not see I'm talking to your friend, here? Show some decency! Now… sure, what would you like to know~?" Ame maintained eye contact with the potential enemy in front of him. "Firstly, where is everyone? I'd imagine there being more than just you here." The lightning elementals face softened as he answered his question with another question. "Would you be at home when something quite important's happening~?" Ame grew puzzled. "Is there a celebration of some kind?" zapp began to snicker again. "Perhaps... what's it to you~?" byaku summoned his construct scythes. "Argh, I can't take this anymore! He's the enemy, why are we talking to him?!" "Excuse me! I happen to be a member of the royal guard! I came to formally collect you, we know that there was an attack on Hope's Pillar by the local extremist's, we keep a close eye on them, and we were waiting for representatives from the Academy to arrive before coordinating a counter-strike." Zapp proclaimed as he saw Byaku was about to attack. "oh…um…sorry" Byaku said, embarrassedly as he de-summoned his scythes. "Royal guard? I thought elementals were tribal, not a monarchy. What's up with that?" Gadget asked, confused as to how elementals had become somewhat sophisticated. "We ARE tribal, but we have a king instead of a chief, honestly, you meat-bags aren't all that bright are you? Anyway, this way if you please, General Stone will want to devise a strategy with you." Zapp said, gesturing for the team to follow him. Byaku nodded at Ame and Gadget and began following Zapp.

As they made their way through the back allies of the village, as to remain undetected, the team occasionally saw some sort of parade in the main streets of the village. When they got to their destination, they saw that it was some sort of bunker, with two guards standing by the door, Zapp nodded at the guards, and was let through with the team. The inside of the bunker was a bustle of various kinds of elementals at stations monitoring various things, as the team was looking at all the activity in the room, Zapp called out over the crowd, "General! The meat-bags are here!" "Very good, send them in!" A booming voice came through a door at the far end of the room. "Go see the general, he'll help you coordinate your strike on the extremists." Zapp said to Byaku, gesturing to the far end of the room. Byaku signalled for Ame and Gadget to follow him, when they walked into the room, there was a large earth elemental sitting in a chair, he was about the same size as Rockzar, and looked similar to the brute except had a large crack through his left eye and wore a beret with some sort of medal on it. "Greetings, Mages. I am General Stone, and by the looks of you, you must be Byaku Yakate, the one who defeated Rockzar. Yes, I know who you are, we have agents all over Terra Asteria, keeps us informed of certain goings on." Said the elemental with an expressionless face. "Y-yes, that would be me, and these are my team-mates, Gadget Elgrid, and Ame of the Rain." Byaku said as he introduced Ame and Jett to the General. "A pleasure, now, I'm assuming you'll want to know how we plan on attacking the extremists, yes?" The General said as he stood up, towering over the three teens. "Yeah, now can we get on with this? We were meant to be doing this mission without anyone noticing we were here. So get gabbing or get going, cuz be got a mission to complete!" Jett snapped at General Stone, obviously a little miffed at how the mission has already diverted so far from how it was originally meant to be. "Gadget! What are you doing! Remember what the headmaster said, don't piss them off or we'll be dead!" Byaku whispered to Gadget to try and calm her down. "Alright then, I'll listen to the little lady…here's the plan…" The General said as he began explaining the plan.

Several Hours Later

"This was a TERRABLE plan! DAH!" *Explosion*

"Byaku! Oh what the-" *Explosion*

"Ame! Byaku! Oh shi-"

**END OF CHAPTER 6**


	8. Chapter 7

**Project MANA, Chapter 7, Murphy's Law**

Some time passed as the plan was went over thoroughly. There was a lot of discussion regarding it, especially between Gadget and General Stone. Sometimes it was rather heated, and a lot of the time was used up in changing the original plan for tactical purposes. Ame barely said a thing the entire time, listening attentively, and Byaku, in a daze, decided to do his own thing. At the least, a good few hours passed before the discussion was over, and everybody was ready to finally take action. Everybody left the conference room, as gadget began to murmur to herself. "Good grief…" they proceeded on, preparing for the dangers ahead, steeling themselves for battle. They all went their separate ways to do so, Ame setting himself on the floor for some brief meditation, Byaku deciding to get some practice in on his construct scythes, and gadget was tinkering with various devices, making adjustments when they crossed her mind. It was all quite brief, they only had about an hour to get ready before moving out.

With a long, drawn-out exhalation, Ame finally got up, as Byaku dispelled his construct scythes, murmured to himself. "Right." Gadget finished tinkering with her various things, and proceeded to the point of departure, alongside the two boys, all of them as ready as they can be. Zapp, appearing out of nowhere, handed them a peculiar-looking device each. "You might want this if you don't wanna get killed… too early." Gadget, examining it curiously, became curious. "What is this, exactly?" the lightning elemental did as he so often does and began to chuckle to himself. "Can't you tell? It's made to help you hide your... um... Whatever you humans call it." Gadget, finally realizing what he was talking about, was a little surprised. "W-wait a second! No one bloody knows how to do that anymore!" Ame, also realizing what the two were talking about, commented. "yeah, but gadget, they're more tuned in." a few minutes pass as the three discuss it, and Byaku, sick of being left out of the loop, raised his voice a little. "What the heck are you people talking about?!" the three turn to him. In the exact same time frame, Ame began to calmly explain to the poor man what they were talking about. The other two just started going off at him for missing something so basic.

"Well, it's called Mana, or presence. It's like, you make these waves and everyone knows you're there, and how powerful you are…"  
"WHAT?! WHADDYA BLOODY MEAN YA DUNNO WHAT MANA IS?! YA BLITHERIN IDIOT, DONTCHA KNOW NOTHING?!"  
"...I… um… ugh, that's can't be right… you don't… YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT MANA IS?!" Gadget and Zapp started yelling as Ame attempted to explain what Mana is.

Mana is, by the way, the magical energy flowing through everything in existence, even inanimate objects like a rock or tree, without Mana, there can be no magic, mages use this energy to perform their spells, take Byaku's fireballs for example, they are a prime example of Mana in use. Some mages, if skilled enough, can use the Mana within inanimate objects to their advantage, be it buffing themselves or others around them.

After a few minutes of explaining, and Byaku understood, finally, they set out to their positions. "Ok, I'm in position, so what was the basic plan again?" Byaku asked through a communicator. "UGH! Why weren't you paying attention! According to the elementals intelligence, the extremists are going to be coming through this back ally, and we're going to ambush them. But knowing how we've managed to mess up our mission so much that we've gotten involved with the MILITARY here, something's going to go wrong." Gadget replied, 'slightly' annoyed. "Right, and don' worry, nothing's going to go wrong, we're trained professionals!" Byaku said "Trained? We've only been at the academy for a week or so?" Ame asked, "I was being sarcastic, Ame." "Oh…" Ame said "Don't worry bro, we'll be fine, trust me, I've got a gut feeling about it, this will go down without a hitch!" Byaku said, reassuring Ame. '(Oh great, we've just been jinxed…wonderful.)" Gadget thought to herself as she heard what Byaku just said.

About 10 minutes passed before the team could see movement off in the distance, these elementals were a lot different from what the normal villagers looked like, much more rugged and thorny, whereas the villages had a smoother look to them, a well-kept appearance, these elementals look more like monsters then 'civilised' people. "(Whispers) Alright, they're almost below us, give the signal when we should begin out attack, Byaku." Ame said into his earpiece. "Ok." Byaku responds, "Wait until they're passed us, and strike them when their backs are turned." "Very nice, Yakate, but why do you look like you're about to break your own plan…Byaku?" Gadget asked, puzzled as to why Byaku has a large grin on his face. "Dah who am I kidding, BOO YA!" Byaku yells as he lunges from his perch and slams into a water elemental, and slicing through it with his scythes.

Ame, beginning to feel as though this wasn't entirely unusual, sighed and followed him. Giving a moment's hesitation, gadget analysed what the heck just happened, and jumped down after him, screaming "GOD DAMNIT BYAKUUUUUUU!" at the top of her lungs. The three were surrounded pretty much as soon as they landed and grouped together.

The water elemental Byaku brainlessly sliced through pulled itself back together and approached them. "I hope you know that's not how water works… or are you as green as you look?" He asked sternly, staring Byaku down, like a wild beast would its prey. Byaku was rendered practically speechless. "…I…" was all he seemed able to muster, feeling crushed by the weight of his own intimidation. Clearly this was something far and away from his expectations. "I'm TALKING to you!" the water elemental began to raise his voice. "Hey, give 'em a break, they're greenies… but they do look kinda interesting." A rough voice piped up from within the crowd. Byaku's intimidator just grunted. "…Did you just call me green?..." A voice could be heard from behind the water elemental, he turned to see Byaku literally fuming with anger. "…I…am not…GREEN! I AM CLEARLY RED! HOW DARE YOU, YOU IMPUDENT CUR!" Byaku bellowed as he blasted the water elemental with intense flame, instantly evaporating him.

It suddenly seemed like all the noise was suddenly gone from the world, as it eventually dawned on the countless other elementals that one of their own had been dispatched right in front of them. "…why did we do this again..?" Ame whispered to Byaku as the air around them seemed to become thicker and thicker with tension. "Because he's an idiot, that's why…" Gadget replied, feeling as though she were stuck in a hopeless situation. "I mean… what the hell? Why ARE we doing this..?! What the bloody hell are we doing here..? It's… It's crazy...! We're not gonna come out of this no matter WHAT we do…" Ame, noticing her feelings of futility, put his hand on gadgets shoulder. "We ARE going to survive." He said in a severe tone, roughly the same expression on his face showing as when he and Byaku were confronted by 3rd degree.

Voices began to arise from the crowd. "You… YOU PIECE OF CRAP! YOU KILLED HIM!" "HOW DARE YOU!" only moments passed before the entirety of what seemed like an army began to cry out in sheer rage and mourning for their lost comrade. Both Byaku and gadget began to fear what was to come, but Ame stood firm, knowing that they have extremely slim chance of survival, but if they didn't fight, then death at the hands of the enemy would be an absolute certainty. "Byaku, Gadget… get away from here, far away." He said, assuming worst possible case scenario. "Hey, you saw me kill that water elemental, AND I took out Rockzar, I can do more than that!" Byaku said with a somewhat cocky attitude. "You took them by surprise, that's not going to happen again. Take your… whatever you called it, grab gadget and go!" Byaku tried to give further reason, but Ame interrupted. "Now!" the blonde wonder hesitated for a moment but grunted angrily and turned to leave, but as he did so, he noticed his hover board was nowhere nearby. "…We can't leave."

Ame simply gave out a short, quiet sigh, and came up with a new plan. "Gadget, I know this is pretty horrid right now, they have us at least a hundred to one, probably. But you need to snap out of it. And I mean, right now, they're coming!" he said as he slowly assumed a fighting stance. "Wait, what..!" the elemental hoard began to advance, ready for battle. "This is going to be one hell of a fight." At last, the elementals were at close range. An earth elemental went to strike Byaku, as Ame pushed him out of the way and took the blow himself, getting flung backwards. "AGH! Dammit, Byaku... focus!" out of the blue, a thunder elemental threw what looked like a large ball of lighting at gadget. Byaku saw this and acted immediately. He threw a fireball and bounced the shot away from her. "You too, gadget, I need you to fight! It's not looking good, but if we don't, we'll definitely die!"

Gadget finally snapped to and pulled Ame up. "Thanks. Ya really know what to say." Ame smiled and the two steeled themselves. At the same time, Byaku was in the midst of it and having a pretty hard time of it. He fought with all his might, trying to avoid as many blows as he can. One blow did connect before too long, and he was hit, and hit hard. "CRAP!" he yelled as he was flung backward. "Sorry, I should've told you before. They hit hard." as Ame struggled to catch the flying fire mage. He put him down, and the three were finally together. Back to back with each other, they were completely surrounded by the vast sea of elemental warriors. Rugged and taller than probably any human, the sight would have been frightening for most, especially when locked onto by many hundreds of vengeful eyes. "Alright, I've got a plan." Ame began to explain, as the elementals once again began an advance. Ame began to circulate the air around them, creating a small tornado, as Byaku gathered his strength. Gadget summoned her construct rifle and ensured their safety, deflecting numerous projectiles and incapacitating at least a few of the enemy. About half a minute went by before he was ready, and he gave as much as he had in clearing the last obstacle in the plan. "Alright, Byaku! Add your fire, now!" "Right!" Byaku de-summoned his Scythes and began shooting flame into the tornado, creating a literal pillar of flame. "Ok, NOW!" Ame and Byaku then blasted the tornado outward, creating an explosion, clearing out a sizeable chunk of the area.

The light was brilliant, blinding many of them… however, save pushing most of them far away and giving some of them minor injuries, that was just about the most it did. "Crap! How didn't that work?!" the enemy got back up and began to return to what they were doing when a particularly important sounding voice arose. "Hang on a sec!" as he came out from the crowd in front of the trio. "These three are obviously hardly a threat. Tie 'em up." Apparently, there were some elementals already behind them and, struggle as our team might, they were captured within moments. "OI! LET US GO, YOU BLOODY MONGRELS! ARGH!" gadget screamed as she was tied up and dragged away. "So much for my plan…" Ame mumbled as he was also dragged off. Byaku was just murmuring incomprehensibly to himself as he, too, was dragged off. "LET ME GO YOU F**KING HICKS! DO YOU KNOW WHAT I CAN DO! I KILLED ONE OF YOU THAT WAS THE SIZE OF A F**KING BUILDING!" Byaku began yelling soon after the team was dragged off. "Ugh! This one's getting annoying, someone knock him out." A fire elemental ordered. "Wait wha-" Byaku was cut off when the elemental dragging him drove his elbow into the back of his head, rendering him unconscious.

Byaku drifted in and out of consciousness as he and his team were being dragged deep within the enemy base. Byaku soon awoke inside a cell, somewhere in a dungeon. "Huh? What? Where am I?" He tried to stand but found that he was in chains. "Chains? It's as if these idiots don't know I'm a fire mage. HYA!" Byaku grunted as he melted the chains around him and stood up to look around. He noticed that there were no guards around and that all the cell doors were made of metal, an easy escape for a fire mage. "Hah! Metal, too easy." Byaku said as he blasted the cell door with fire, melting it. "Alright, I need to find the others and bust them out. Time to get my sneak on." Byaku said as he snapped his fingers, which changed his combat outfit to some form of one-piece stealth suit which covered his mouth, but also keeping his jacket. "Alright, time to get to work."

**How will Byaku find where Ame and Gadget are? Will their plans screw up again? Will I ever get these chapters done and uploaded on time? Find out, Next time on Project MANA!**


	9. Chapter 8

**Project MANA, Chapter 8, Dungeon Crawler**

**Previously on Project MANA!**

**Our heroes had begun an attack on the Elemental extremists, but try as they might, their struggles were in vain as they were captured and imprisoned in separate cells throughout the dungeon in the enemy base. But Young Byaku was able to break free of his bonds using his fire magic and is now searching for his imprisoned team-mates.**

"Alright, time to get to work" Byaku said as he snuck from his cell and began scouting the halls and corridors of the dungeon he and his team were captive in. As he crept through the dungeon, Byaku could see that the guards were patrolling the dungeon at timed intervals, something that Byaku could work around easily. When you grow up in a place called 'Death City', you pick up how to be sneaky very easily. "Hm…if these guys are smart, they're holding Ame and Jett at opposite ends of the dungeon…now who do I bust out first…hm…" Byaku thought to himself as he made his way to what he thought would be the southern end of the dungeon. "…As useful as Ame's wind magic is, Jett's Rage Form is much more useful."

Meanwhile, Gadget is passing up and down her cell, being unable to break out of her cell without using her Rage From was making her frustrated. Unfortunately, not frustrated enough to awaken the Rage Form. When suddenly she could hear a 'psst!' come from outside her cell, when she looked over, she could see Byaku hanging upside down from the ceiling grinning at her from under his mask. "Call a guard, I'll take care of the rest." Byaku whispered to this team-mate. Gadget nodded, then called "OI! Guard! I need somethin'!" Soon, an Earth Elemental walked around the corner and barked, "What? Meat-bag!" "…uh…I uh…need to tinkle…" She murmured to the guard, not thinking of what to say before calling the guard. "What? What the stone is a tinkle?" The guard would ask. Gadget then began trying to tell the guard in as less detail as possible what needing to tinkle was, all the while Byaku silently dropped from the ceiling and sneaking up behind the admittedly small elemental. Byaku then summoned a construct Revolver and tapped the guard on the shoulder. "Huh? Wha-oh…uh oh…"

"Say 'ah' dirt-bag!" Byaku said then blasted the elementals face off. Causing a small explosion. "Huh? That didn't happen when I offed Rockzar." Byaku said as he melted the lock on Gadgets cell. "Took ya long enough, and what does it matter? You shot it, things that get shot generally explode." Gadget said as she stepped out of her cell, stretching her arms and legs. "So where's Ame?" "We're going to get him now, I figured we could use your ra-" "YOU DOLT! I can't just turn it on-and-off!" Gadget said, cutting Byaku off with a bash to the head "Ouch! Alright, alright, so this is going to be harder than I thought. And don't shout, the other guards will hear you, they're patrolling every couple of minutes." Byaku cried as he rubbed he head. "Well, then we'll just have to make our way through and take out any elementals along the way, it'll be 2 on 1 so we should be fine." "…Fine, but we better be fast, I don't want Ame to be kept waiting." Gadget said as she grabbed her wrench from her pouch and extended it into its staff form. "Alright, won't be needing this anymore." Byaku said as he snapped his fingers, returning his combat suit back to normal. "Wait, what's with the guns? 3 barrels? Isn't that just a little excessive?" Gadget asked after seeing the construct revolvers Byaku had made, having 3 large barrels, making look more like a literal 'hand-cannon' then a gun. "I figured it would look cooler, and besides, 3 barrels are better then 1, and 6 are better than 3." Byaku said, smirking at his creative design. "Alright, let's get going."

The two mages then began making their way through the dungeon, checking every cell to see if Ame was in any of them. Eventually, they came across a guard, thankfully it had its back turned to Byaku and Gadget. "Would you like the honours, Jett?" "Don't mind if I do!" Gadget said, launching herself at the elemental, jamming her staff into its back, sending electricity through it. The elemental then exploded from the attack. "Woh! Now THAT was cool!" "Well yeah, it WAS me who did the killing this time." Gadget said with a smirk. "Whatever, let me show you how a REAL mage kills some elementals!" Byaku said as he began running down the hall, which drew the attention of two guards who were standing around talking. Byaku began gathering his mana, then darted forward with a flurry of strikes with his scythes, completely shredding one guard, then Byaku stopped with his back turned to the other guard. The guard, snarling and about to charge with an attack, was shocked when Byaku spun around with two construct revolvers summoned and began blasting off chunks of the elemental, then finishing it off with a dual shot to the head, causing the elemental to explode.

"Ok, I'll admit, that was kinda impressive, Yakate." Gadget said as she walked up to Byaku, who was admiring his handy work, and by handy work I mean the chunks of dead elemental strewn around the floor (what a sadist!). "Done yet?" a familiar voice came from a nearby cell, overseeing the fighting Byaku and Gadget had just been doing. It was Ame, who was sitting in a meditative pose. "If you don't mind, I'd like to come out now." He said as he was getting up. "Hey! Ame! Alright, hang on a sec." Byaku said as he melted the lock to the cell. "They probably know where we are now, so we'll need to be quick if we don't want to be outnumbered again." Ame proposed as he exited his cell. "We've already killed at least a couple of them, what's the big deal?" Byaku retorted, his confidence clearly showing. "He's right, ya know. You're just barmy if you want what happened last time." Byaku grunted, and admitted that maybe they should let Ame take the lead for now. "So do you have anything in particular in mind, or…" Byaku began to ask, but was interrupted. "Wait..." Ame said silently, concentrating. What he was concentrating on was something Byaku was slightly confused about, but he decided to play along.

"7 up that way… 23 over there… just one over in that direction… there's slight wind where he is too… the exit..? No, it's a trap. Our only option..? Maybe…" Ame began contemplating the odds. The other two just stared blankly at him. "Alright, I've got it." Ame said, calmly, but with a slight sense of urgency. "There's 3 ways we can go from here to get out of this place. One way has about 7 elementals all grouped together along the way. It's not the safest way, but it's the shortest. Another has anywhere from 20 to 25 elementals, spread out pretty thinly. We attract any attention through there, we're done. Lastly, there seems to be a path that leads to a large room. There's only one elemental there, but…" he said, listing the choices to Byaku and gadget, but was interrupted. "I say we pick that one!" Byaku shouted and was then hushed by gadget. "Shut up! Do you want them to find us NOW?" Byaku calmed down as Ame began to continue. "That last path seems like it's definitely the most dangerous. That elemental seems really strange, and he's in a really large room. Really quite large. He's… just waiting there. I don't like it. But, it really does seem like it's the best option we have. There's a small draft coming from there, and there's only one enemy." He said, anxious at the prospect. "What do you two think?" he continued, making a cue for input from his teammates.

"I still think that last one's best." Said Byaku, certain that this option was the way to go. Gadget took a moment to think. "I'm tied between the first and last one. If we took the path with 7, it'd be the most certain, but we'd get attention. But if the last one was anywhere near the exit, we could just make a break for it. However, you said there's a strange one just waiting there. This does look like a prison… the warden, maybe..?" she gave it another moment. "Alright, I think the last option's the best, too. We get lucky, it'll be a cinch!"

"Before we go, shouldn't we get our things? Or was I the only one robbed of my swords?" Ame suggested, emphasizing how important they are to him. "Can't you just get another pair? Sure, I'm gonna miss my hover board, but we don't need to risk our lives over them." Byaku retorted, not seeing the importance that Ame's swords and Byaku's hover board might have in this situation. "A swordsman's sword is his life. It's his soul, an extension of himself! Beyond even that, no, I can't get another pair. They're pretty unique. They were made for me, and nobody else." Ame could have gone on, but Byaku gave up. "Okay, okay, we'll get our stuff... So which way, oh fearless leader~?" Byaku asked grumpily. "Think I've got ya covered for that!" gadget exclaimed whilst smiling brightly.

Clearly, she's excited about something. "Hang on just a second…~" she instructed as she got something out of her left pocket. A remote? It sure looked like it. "What's that?" Ame inquired, curious of what she had in mind. "I said hang on!" gadget raised her voice ever so slightly as she grabbed a handful of small orb-like objects from her right pocket. She began to throw them in different directions, as leg-like protrusions popped out of them. The moment they landed, it looked as though they were scurrying away. "Seriously, what WAS that..?" Byaku asked, utterly puzzled by what he just witnessed. Gadget pulled just one more of them out and spread out her hand, the tiny orb springing to life in the middle of her palm. "I normally hate spiders, but these guys are pretty cool. I call 'em CameraCrawlers! The survey the surroundings and make a map which shows up on here!" she pointed out the display on the device in her other hand. A kind of shape was forming and expanding slowly. "pretty cool, huh~?" she said, admiring her marvels of ingenuity as she turned her hand slowly, and the small spider-like entity crawled about in an attempt to stay upright. "That's kinda weird, dude…" Byaku muttered, a little creeped out by them. Gadget rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Look, let's just wait here a few minutes, and then we can go get our stuff! Look, they've already covered a lot of ground!" she said, pointing out the device in her hand again. The shape grew considerably. It became apparent this was a map of their surroundings. "If that's a map, then we're really lucky you brought that..." Ame said, at the very least a little bit bewildered at her invention. Gadget blushed lightly. "W-well, you see… I didn't actually bring it before we came here..." Byaku's eyes widened. "So, what, did you… make them..? Wait... Here?! ON THE SPOT?!" his jaw dropped to the floor at the realization. Ame was also quite surprised by this.

"Wow, that's amazing…" gadget became a little embarrassed. "Oh, stop it…" she said. In an attempt to try and change the topic, she realized that there seemed to be a lot of dead ends starting to pop up on the map. "Before we start, we should probably go over this map a bit..." the two boys weren't convinced at all by this blatant attempt to make them stop gawking at her resourcefulness; however she DID have a point. So they began to listen intently to her. "First thing's first, the cant sense mana, so we can't tell which way has the least or most guards." Byaku and Ame nodded, urging her to continue. "That's probably where you come in. I'm gonna need you to tell me how many guards there are nearby." She continued, looking at Ame. "I can do that." He said. "Okay. Next, we're going to need to figure out how to get around without being noticed." Gadget stated further. It had crossed Ame's mind that these devices were actually visible. "That might be a problem…" he suggested, concerned. "We'll be fine, just relax!" gadget bonked him on the head and let Ame continue. "These spiders can actually be seen, so it's likely that with those crawling around, we've already been spotted, especially since that room was explored." He explained, pointing out the large room on the map. "That's the room I sensed the strange elemental from. The elementals are serious business enough, but that one's so much more powerful than the rest, he's definitely spotted it."

Gadget realized the danger of that prospect. "Wait… so, he could know that we're trying to escape..?!" Ame closed his eyes. "I'm betting he already knows that." Ame just realized something possibly quite grave "that's… that's why he set it up the way he has!" Byaku began to grow concerned. "What do you mean 'he set it up that way'?" he asked, afraid of what could be happening. "My guess is, he's actually letting us confront of him. That aside… back when we got captured, it seemed endless, how many of the enemy there were… now there's… what, 31 in this entire complex that I can see..? It's some kind of trap, that much is obvious by now." Gadget and Byaku both realized the gravity of what's going on. "…so… he's challenging us, then… that mean he thinks he can actually take us all on at once..?" gadget said, both intimidated and intrigued by this. "Sounds terrifying… I'm so bloody scared right now. I'm shaking in me boots... But somehow I'm excited too..!" she continued, anxiously waiting for this upcoming battle.

"Uh, gadget..? I really don't think that's how fear works…" said Byaku, with a slightly confused look on his face. "Yeah, its bollocks, I know, but that's just how it is." Gadget said. About a minute of silent thought passed before she decided to check on the map once more. "…EY! It's finished!" she exclaimed, her eyes glued to the now complete map. "Over there looks like some sort of storage cabinet... Ame?" she said, and then cued for Ame to check for elementals. A couple moments of silence passed by. "…there's no one…" he said, becoming worried. "Why do I get that's a bad thing..?" inquired Byaku, growing concerned. "What I mean is, there's absolutely nobody, except for the strange one in the room. The other 30 elementals I sensed just… disappeared…" after that, gadget became somewhat concerned. "Bugger it all, let's just go. We get attention, it's our own fault." Byaku decided to go along with it, and, reluctantly, so did Ame. "c'mon, up this way!" said gadget, beginning to run up the hall, eyes glued to the map. The other two followed, scanning their surroundings for elementals as they travelled. A right here, a left there, the place seemed more and more like a massive, winding maze by the minute. Speaking of minutes, it took quite a few to actually find the place where their equipment. They began to investigate every nook and cranny.

"FOUND IT!" boomed Byaku, brandishing his hoverboard with endless pride and joy. "Good, that's good…" said Ame, with a slightly forlorn look on his face. "Hey... Are you okay..?" gadget asked. "Um... Yeah, I'm fine... I just can't find my swords anywhere..." he said, still searching for them. "Look, it'll be fine... Just, relax a little, okay..?" she said, trying to console Ame. "I can't. Not until I find them. I know you're just trying to help, and I appreciate that, but like I said before, a swordsman's sword is his life… his soul. Without my swords, I'm incomplete." Gadget simply nodded. She got up, and she exclaimed aloud; "Right, well we need to find Ame's swords. They're pretty damn important so we can't leave without 'em." Byaku nodded and began to search some more. "Hey, um, gadget? Do you mind if I have another look at that map?" inquired Ame, as he approached her again. "Sure, okay. "She said, passing him the device. "Okay, so that's the map, there. Up in the corner, that's a compass. The little dots moving about are the spiders, and the really thin lines are doors and such." She explained. Ame thanked her and took a look. He discovered a room that looked similar to this on almost the opposite side of the building. "Is it okay if I checked over here?" he asked gadget, longing to see his swords again. "I'd advise against going alone, but if you really want to…" she said, knowing what he'd do anyway. He nodded. "…thank you." He said silently, with a faint smile on his face. Without a first thought let alone a second, he rushed away and disappeared without a trace.

He dashed up the winding halls, darting around corners without any concern for himself. If it meant he would find his swords, he'd pay damn near any price. Meanwhile, Byaku was also looking for his swords, when he noticed Ame wasn't around. "Uh… Jett? Where's Ame..?" gadget was busy doing as she does with her inventions. "Ahem!" he added, in further attempt to get her attention. She looked up at Byaku. "Where's Ame?" he repeated. "Oh, he went to go look for his swords." She explained, going back to what she was doing. "What?! And neither of you at least told me that he was going to leave?!" he said as he began to grow worried. "Reeeelaaaaaax!" she said. "Ame only sensed one elemental, and he's just sitting pretty. He's got nothing to worry about, so just let 'im be." She continued. Byaku gave up. He let out a sigh, and sat down next to gadget. "So, what're you doing?" asked Byaku, semi-curious. She glanced in his general direction and grunted.

At the same time, Ame was investigating room after room, looking frantically for his swords, when in one room, he spotted something most curious. He opened the door to find a slender, very human-like elemental in front of him. She seemed quite feminine, and she slowly approached the man, having a somewhat promiscuous air about her. "Hello, you must be the one who's gonna finally give him a fight to remember. You look pretty strong, you know…~" it or, 'she', judging by appearances, said. "…who-..." Ame tried to speak, but the strange womanly figure pressed a finger against his lips. "Shhhh~… everything's okay. I've been waiting for you." She said in a soothing tone. She turned to pick something up that was behind her. "…My swor-…" Ame made a second attempt at speaking, but the strange figure hushed him with the press of a finger for a second time. "Just be quiet. Here, I looked after these while you were all pent up in that itty bitty cell…~" she said, putting Ame's swords back the way they were for him. "Hey… I want you to do something for me, okay?" she whispered in his ear. Afraid to talk, he just nodded slightly. "Mop the floor with him." She said. He then proceeded to nod gently again. "Okay, now get outta here. Your friends're worried about you." She said, gesturing for him to leave.

Without a word, he left, proceeding back the way he came, this time in a much less rushed fashion. It took a while for Ame to get that strange woman-like figure out of his head. Was she an elemental? Doubtful, she appeared too human, but she definitely wasn't that either. And how come he couldn't sense her? It was strange… Whoever she was though, she definitely wasn't the enemy. With that in mind, he finally got back. The two were waiting anxiously for him; gadget was beginning to get worried, when Byaku already was. "What took you so long?! And couldn't you at least have told me you were leaving?! JEEZ!" Byaku carried on, clearly upset at Ame's prolonged absence. "Sorry I'm late. I thought I'd only be a minute or two. But it was well worth it…" he apologized, then glanced down at is swords with a pleased look on your face. "It's good to have you back. Gotta admit, I was kinda worried." Gadget said, a little quietly compared to usual. "…sorry…" Ame replied, with a sincere tone. "No, no, it's fine! Really." Gadget said, trying to reassure Ame everything was alright. "Well, now that we're all good and ready let's go kick some elemental butt and get the heck outta here! Whaddya say, guys?" Byaku shouted heartily, clearly ready for some action.

Ame and gadget take a moment to collect themselves as they follow Byaku out the door, on the way to the heart of the enemy. They stride their way there, ready and revving at full throttle. They press onward, feeling ready to take on anything that might confront them, as though all the worries they had before had melted away. Trap or no, they will pull through. They WILL. Their lives and possibly many others count on it. It feels like an eternity before they actually get there, but they finally do. And they stop just before a pair of massive iron doors. "Alright guys, this's it." Said Byaku. The other two just nodded. They took this moment to get just that bit more pumped up before the potentially massive battle before them. Ame took a deep breath in. he walked at the doors at a slightly accelerated rate, and put his hands on them and blasted them right off their hinges as the trio enter the room.

"I've been… waiting for you." A loud and mysterious voice, echoed across the room.

**Who's this unknown menace that stands before our three heroes? WILL they pull through? Seriously, are these things ever gonna be uploaded in a timely fashion ever again? Find out this, and more, in the next exiting chapter of... PROJECT MANA!**


	10. Chapter 9

**Project MANA, Chapter 9, Sunder**

_**PREVIOUSLY ON PROJECT MANA!**_

"_**Alright guys, this's it." Said Byaku. The other two just nodded. They took this moment to get just that bit more pumped up before the potentially massive battle before them. Ame took a deep breath in. he walked at the doors at a slightly accelerated rate, and put his hands on them and blasted them right off their hinges as the trio enter the room.**_

"…_**I've been waiting for you."**_

A booming voice came from the other end of the room. The being it came from, was a large figure, sitting on what looked like a throne. Shrouded in Shadow, all that could be defined from this figure was that he was big, very big, looking to be even larger than the brute Rockzar. Also, the figure had an actual defined head, instead of having its face be in the middle of its chest like normal elementals. Even though all you could see of it was a silhouette, its piercing, glowing red eyes could be seen through the darkness, as well as a disturbing toothy Smirk. "So you're the mages that have been giving me so much trouble, huh?" the massive elemental boomed "Not much by the looks of you."

"Oh really? And just who the hell are you?" Byaku called back. "You may call me Sunder, you must be the leader of this group, Byaku was it?" "W-what? How the hell do you know my name!?" Byaku yelled at the behemoth. "Simple, I call still feel Rockzar's essence on you. Little Yakate." Sunder said softly. Still maintaining his smirk. "Rockzar? That chump? PFFT! What does that guy have to do with-" "Why are you all alone, Sunder? What are your motives?" Ame cut off Byaku with the sharp and to the point question. "Hm-hm-hm! My Motives are my own, but for now, my current motives are to make Mages pay for what they've done to me. Well, to us." Sunder said, with a slight tone of sadness. "Huh? To us? What are you on about?" Gadget asked, curious as to what the behemoth meant.

"Well, many years ago, I was once two elementals, their names have been lost to the sands of time. We were happy, working amongst the collective of elementals in Elementos city. Until a group of men, filthy mages, captured us and a few others, what became of them I do not know, but I know they met a fate we wish had befallen us instead. They tortured us, experimented on us. We finally knew what they were trying to do when they succeeded…" Sunder spoke as if Byaku and the others weren't there, as if reciting this to himself. "What did they do? These mages?" Byaku asked, now concerned as to what had befallen this creature. "Hm! To find out, you'll have to beat my general. Then you can see for yourself." Sunder boomed across the massive room. "But first, I must ask you a question, Byaku Yakate, how does one kill an elemental?" Sunders smirk disappeared from his face to hear Byakus answer. "The same way you kill anything, and besides, you should know, you can apparently sense Rockzar on me." Byaku replied with a smartass attitude. "I know, when Rockzar died, did he fade and crumble. Or did his body explode? Hm, Little Yakate?" Sunders eyes now narrowing. "…He…faded and crumbled…What does that mean?"

Sunders smirk returned, turning into a disturbing grin. "To kill an elemental, you must destroy their essence, which explodes upon destruction. Hm-hm-hm!" Sunder said. Then fell silent, letting what he said sink into Byakus head. "Wait…so if what you're saying is true…" Sunders grin now showing more teeth. "…then that means…Rockzar's still alive!"

**"BOO-YA BITCHES!"**

Boomed a disturbingly familiar voice as Rockzar himself came bursting through the ceiling and crashing onto the floor, then rising, alive and well, to Byakus shock and Surprise. **"Hey there squirt! Did ya miss me!? Thought you had me beaten didn't you! HA!"** The brute said, staring directly at Byaku. **"You look different, did ya do something with your hair? Who are your little friends, squirt?"** Rockzar asked the terrified mage. Shaken to his core, Byaku couldn't even move, let alone speak. He KILLED him, he watched the light fade from Rockzar's eyes as he crumbled into dust, how on Terra Asteria can he be standing before him, Ame, and Jett today? It's not possible! **"Oh! I know! You changed your outfit! HA! Hey, was wassamatta with ya? You look like you've seen a ghost? HA! ***snort*** I guess you have!"**

"What is the meaning of this? I thought you'd fight us on your own, not sit behind some bumbling idiot." Ame said to the shrouded behemoth seated behind Rockzar. "Yeah, wait, Byaku, isn't that the guy you killed on your first day in Hope's Pillar?" Gadget said. "Byaku?" **"Hey Squirt! The little lady was talking to you!"** "…Shut up…" Byaku finally spoke, looking down at the ground. **"What? What did you just say to me?"** Rockzar asked the now angry Byaku. "…You shut the hell up! You have no right to speak to me like that! Especially after you decided to fake a death and run away in the middle of a fight like a coward!" Byaku now yelling directly at Rockzar. "Get to a safe distance you two. Rockzar's mine." The Pyromancer now getting into a fighting stance, ready for his second fight with what you'd guess is his rival of sorts. "What do you bloomin' mean? We can't jus-" "Very well, I can see you have a history with this guy, let's go Gadget." Ame said as he grabbed Gadgets arm and jumped to a high alcove in the wall. **"Oh, so NOW you want to fight uh? Alright then, I've been meaning to get you back for fading me all those weeks ago. Let's go, Squirt!"** Rockzar replied, getting ready to charge the mage. "I've picked up a few tricks since our first match, so don't go running now." Byaku said as he summoned his scythe constructs, now completely ready for battle. **"Hm! As if I'd give you the chance to use them, Squirt! HYA!"** Rockzar bellowed as he charged towards Byaku with a massive punch. Byaku easily dodged it and sliced Rockzars arm off. **"AH! MY ARM! AH!"** Byaku was simply smirking at the idiots antics, until he noticed Rockzars wails of 'pain' turned to laughter. **"Did you really think it would be as easy as the first time? HA!"** Rockzar said as a completely new arm began growing out of the stump at the bottom of his elbow. **"Lord Sunder has granted me some new tricks too ya know"** A devilish grin on the giants face.

"Tch! whatever, you can grow back limbs as much as possible, that won't stop me from getting to your core and extinguishing you!" Byaku yelled as he lunged forward, changing his scythes into revolvers, sliding under Rockzar as he blasted away at his stone exterior, leaping around the goliath as he was slowly trying to chip away at his body to get to his core or 'essence' as they're called. Rockzar was swinging his fists wildly, until he managed to land a blow. **"No ya don't!"** He bellowed as he slamed his fist into Byaku, sending him flying into the wall, almost going through the wall. Byaku simply got up and started trying to charge Rockzar from different angles, every time getting nocked back by the somehow empowered Rockzar. After the umteenth time of being slammed into a wall and being laughed at by Rockzar, Byakus rage finally cooled off and he began thinking straight again. "hm…Ame! Gadget! I'm going to need your help after all!" Byaku called out to his team-mates, who were watching in horror as their friend was being smacked around like a level 1 Charmander going up against a level 50 Regirock. Seeing that his friend was now thinking clearly, he nodded to Gadget and the two leaped down from their perch.

"Byaku! Are you ok? You look pretty beaten up." Gadget asked, concerned after seeing him being bashed into walls multiple times. "I'll be fine, just a few bruses. Nothing I can't live with. Alright, lets take him together. Ame, you strike from above. Gadget, from behind, I'll hit this dork right in his chest-face-thing." Byaku said, taking control of the situation at hand. **"Hey! Don't turn your back on me, squirt!"** Rockzar yelled, then he charged the small group of mages. "now! Scatter!" Byaku yelled as the three lept out of the way and began their counter attack. "Up ya go!" Byaku grunted as he grabbed Ames arm, spun him around and around at high speed, then threw him into the air to start sending air-slashes Rockzars way. Which Ame did, a lot, slashing at sonic speed, sending blasts of razor sharp air into the top of Rockzars body. **"Hey! Q-quit it! Stop that you pest!"** Rockzar began swatting his arms at Ame, attempting to bat him out of the air.

"Hey! Don't forget about me now, ya bloomin' idiot!" Gadget said as she began blasting energy bolts from her wrench staff into Rockzars back. **"Argh! Stop that you damn brat!"** Rockzar then began chassing Gadget around. All the while, Byaku was biding his time, he knew Rockzar would never be able to catch Gadget, and he'd be constantly stopping to try and attack Ame, starting the cycle all over again.

Meanwhile, Sunder was not very amussed with his generals performance, looking like a complete imbacile trying to chase chickens or something. "hm…idiot…"

"Hey Pebble-spawn! Take this!" Byaku yelled as he slammed into Rockzar and blasting him with his revolvers at the same time. Rockzar grunted and grabbed the fire mage by the scruff of his jumper and threw him at Ame, knocking them both to the ground. Gadget, meanwhile, took this opportunity to jump back to the alcove. "Looks like your redhead friend took the opportunity to leave." He snickered and turned to the two. "She made the smart move, sucks to be you two." He raised his fist and Ame shoved Byaku to the side, holding out his arms and creating a solid air barrier in a last ditch effort. Rockzar shoved his fist down and it smashed against the barrier, smashing the rock. He cried out and staggered back, pain rippling through his body. Byaku scrambled to his feet and quickly brushed himself off. Something shiny caught his eye and he could spy Gadget in the alcove, a Camera Crawler in her hand, catching the light from the hole in the roof. She summoned her rifle and pointed at Rockzar. Byaku nodded and stood under the alcove.

Ame jumped up and held himself in the air, sending more attacks Rockzars way. **"S-Stop it you pest!" **he roared and attempted to grab him again. "OI STONEFACE!" Byaku yelled to catch his attention. Rockzar froze and looked over at the blonde mage. He pointed up at the alcove, where Gadget was crouching on one knee, aiming at him with her rifle. "See you around!" she smirked dangerously and looked through the sight, shooting him in the eye, and then firing again to his other eye. Byaku launched forward, summoning his scythe, and dragging it down Rockzars chest. The elemental roared and flailed his arms, slowly falling into a pile of dust. Rockzar was beaten.

Gadget desummoned her rifle and stayed crouching in the alcove. "That was great, gadget!" Ame raised his voice, just barely audible by her. "I know I am!" gadget replied whilst making her way back, holding herself in a grace that could almost be described as arrogance in this situation. Arrogance or not, her new attitude was clearly justified in the light of this occurrence. "Nice work!" Byaku raised his hand for a high five as she came within proximity of him. Gadget began to reciprocate, as they were interrupted.

"Fools." Boomed sunder. The atmosphere changed completely, the light of hope that was their victory was immediately blotted out by the impending danger that is the main threat… Sunder. "You eliminate one of many, temporarily, mind you, and you think you're so above it all. You have seen naught but the beginning. The beginning…" said sunder, as he began to arise from his place of rest. He slowly rose, a pillar of impending doom, seeming to dwarf the behemoth that was Rockzar. Finally, he stood before the three, a towering pillar of destruction, wrought of water and lightning, with a scar across his chest that looked painful in only the highest degree. "…of the end." He continued, looking down upon them with a look seemingly plastered with dark, dark hatred. "Now you face a REAL warrior!" He boomed as he began walking over to the three 'puny' mages. "Hold up there Tropic Thunder, we made a deal. We beat Rockzar, now tell us what happened to you. Surely someone of your stature (power &amp; height) wouldn't break his promises. Am I right?" Byaku said as he stepped in front of his team mates, arms folded. Sunder simply stared at Byaku, (He has the audacity to make demands of me!) Sunder thought to himself. (Hm…I did give him my word…) "Very well, you want to know what happened to me, take a good long look. Those bastards fused us into one being, we were once a water and lightning elemental, now we are this, a titan amongst titans. A crossbreed. An outcast. Thus we are named sunder, split in two…All because of your people…" Sunder boomed across the room, as if he was announcing his condition to the entire world. "…I would finish you off here…But that would be too easy. Train until you are worthy of my notice, then we shall fight." Sunder then began to turn away. "Excuse me!? You make me fight a freaking ghost, then you just turn your back on me!" Byaku yelled at the titan. "Be gone form this place!" Sunder spoke as he turned back around and smashed his fists together, bringing water and electricity into contact causing a large flash of light and smoke to fill the room.

When the smoke had settled, Sunder was gone, as was the dust pile that used to be Rockzar's body. "Hm, so he decided against fighting us, why would he do that?" Ame asked as he looked around the room to see any access way Sunder could have fled through. "What was that all about? He gets up all mad like, then just runs away. HA! What a coward!" Gadget said as she leaned back, stretching after the previous battle. "…Until I gain his notice…So my power wasn't even enough to get his attention, huh?" Byaku said nearly silently, looking at his hands that had just beaten Rockzar with, for the second time. He then clenches his fists. "Well then, I guess I'll have to train harder so I can get his attention! Alright guys, I doubt we'll have any trouble form here. Let's find a way out."

Byaku lead his team through a doorway at the other end of the large room, behind Sunder's throne. Surprisingly, through the door was a large courtyard that lead out of the castle they were held in. They could see that some sort of battle had taken place here, as there were scorch marks everywhere and piles/puddles of various elements strewn around. To the teams' dismay, they came across the body of Zapp, it would appear that the royal guard had come to either rescue them or take the extremists out themselves, either way the guards payed sorely for it. "What the? What is this? By Pyrus' might…all these people, killed, because we messed up and got captured…" "This is truly disturbing…" "…Holy sh*t…" the team were taken aback by the sight of this battle, and the fact that they were very likely the cause of it.

The trio kept making their way through the deserted area until they could see a gate half open. And by the gate, was the Mechano-Griffon and Byaku's hover-board. Clearly they were placed there, and recently too. "Hm…It appears we have a follower, no way our mounts being placed there is by coincidence." Ame said as he discreetly observed the immediate surroundings. "True. But I'll make a safe bet that they won't enter Hope's Pillar, so let's just go, I've had enough of this place." Byaku said, more quiet then he usually is.

Byaku, Ame and gadget gathered their things and put them onto the Mechano-Griffon, then got onto their mounts and began making their way back towards Hope's Pillar with the aide of their map. Byaku was curious what the headmaster's reaction will be when he gives his report on the mission. After a few hours of riding, they could see familiar territory, the outskirts of Hope's Pillar came into view. The sunset illuminating the city like a new year's light show. They were home.

Upon getting to the gates of Hope's Pillar, Byaku, Ame and Gadget were greeted by two pillars, Mack and Marnee. "Well, well, well, looks like the elemental slayer and his team have completed their first mission. So how'd it go?" Mack Asked Byaku, eager to hear of what happened. "Tch! I think he should be telling that to the headmaster, Mack, not you!" Marnee said sharply to the Technosis Pillar. "Alright, alright, geez. Well, once you've gotten your things off of the Mechano-Griffon, follow us, we'll take you to Headmaster Mortimer's office." Byaku's face suddenly sunk (oh Pyrus…his office…those stairs…) with a shudder, he helped Ame and gadget get their things off of the Mechano-Griffon and began following the two pillars as they took them to Headmaster Mortimer.

"Ok, this is as far as we can take you, you'll have to give your report without us. See y'all around I guess." "Do take care, I hear stairs are dangerous now days." Marnee said as she snickered at Byaku. Word travels fast apparently. "Ok, thank you." Byaku said as the two pillars leave. (…how does she know about the stairs…gadget…) "Ok, you guys ready?" the two nod, Byaku takes a deep breath and pushes open the large door to Mortimer's office. The room was silent for what seemed like minutes as the three made their way to the centre of the room, when Mortimer's voice could be heard from behind a large desk. "Ah, Mr Yakate, Mr Ame, and Miss Elgrid. I see you have returned from your mission. Please, take a seat. The headmaster said as he made a gesture to the three seats in front of his desk. Byaku nodded at his team-mates and they quietly sat. "So, Byaku, what did you find out about this group of extremists?" "Well, as it turns out, the reason they sent Rockzar to attack Hope's Pillar was some sort of revenge scheme made by their leader. An elemental by the name of Sunder, apparently many years ago he was tortured by mages and fused with another elemental, making a dual type of water and lightning." Byaku said, recalling the events of the past few days.

"I see, but I can see from your face that's not all, what else did you discover?" the headmaster said as he saw the troubled look on Byaku's face. "Well…We fought someone, someone I thought to be a pile of rubble." "I see, and who was it that you fought?" Mortimer asked with intrigue. "When I first fought him in the streets of Hope's Pillar, I actually hadn't managed to kill Rockzar, and it came back to bite us, we had to fight an empowered Rockzar at their base." Byaku said, looking down at the floor. "Hm…I figured as much, there were no reports of an explosion with your fight. But did you manage to fell the creature this time?" "Unfortunately, we managed to destroy his body but not his essence. Then Sunder managed to escape as well." Byaku said, slightly disappointed that he hadn't managed to kill Rockzar for a second time. "Hm…troubling indeed, but there's nothing we can do about this until they re-emerge, so don't trouble yourselves over it. You've completed your mission so be happy." Mortimer said, smiling at the three to cheer them up. "Now, go check in with the infirmary then head to your homes. You'll need some rest after that." With that, the three stood up, Byaku thanked the headmaster with a bow, and the three headed back to their homes for a long rest for Ame and Gadget, and Pizza &amp; Video games for Byaku (…that idiot doesn't know HOW to rest!)

_**And so comes the end of a long few days for Byaku, Ame and gadget. But this is only the beginning of their journey together. And nothing compared to what will come. Let's just say it'll be out of this world.**_

_**End of Chapter 9.**_


	11. Chapter 10

**Project MANA, Chapter 10**

_**When we last saw our heroes, they had just fought the elemental, Rockzar, and met the leader of these rebel elementals, known as Sunder, a colossus made up of two elementals that were forcefully fused into one being. Soon after meeting the tyrannical figure, he disappeared, leaving Byaku, Ame, and Gadget all alone to return to Hope's Pillar, knowing that this was not the last they'd be seeing of the titan amongst elementals. Two weeks have passed since then and Byaku has organized for his friends to come together to watch some movies and eat sushi and pizza together. Byaku had invited Gadget to attend, Ame was going to be there anyway, he and Byaku lived in the same apartment after all, Byaku also invited his old friend Quels to attend, as well as the other two members of Quels' team who Byaku hadn't met as of yet. Byaku, Ame and Gadget are eager to get together and genuinely relax as friends. Byaku was also excited to see who his old friend has as team mates.**_

"Ok, Ame! How's the movie set up coming?" Byaku called out to the confused Ame from the kitchen, "What? Of course I want anchovies on that, what kind of nutcase wouldn't? …" Byaku trailed off while talking on the phone "Uh…good. I think. I don't even know what any of these are, let alone if they're good viewing material." Ame replied, looking at the various DVD cases, seeing what he thought were very odd titles and graphics. "Mind if I have a look, Ame?" Gadget said as she was suddenly right next to Ame. "Ah, Gadget, yes that would help. Which one of these do you think would be a better viewing experience? ''Zombie Spiders from Planet Pluto', or 'Man of Bats'?" he asks confusedly, questioning just about everything. She glances over at the cases. "Honestly, I reckon they're both lame!" she says, shrugging. She turns to Byaku. "These are lame!" she yells to him. "Aw, come ON! No, I'm fine with the price, that's good. No, no, nononono! It's good! No, don't get the manager, it's all goo…" he says while still trying to maintain two conversations, stopping short to make a long, pained sigh. Repeated knocking sounds can be heard from the front door of the apartment.

"Having some trouble with deciding the movies, huh?" Quels said as he opened the door to the apartment and walked in. "Hey Quels! What? No not you, my friend…" Byaku trailed off again. "Ah, Quels El'vahn, yes, I have Gadgets help but a third opinion would be much appreciated." Ame said, relieved as he saw the elf walk in. "hm…dude, 'Zombie Spiders from Planet Pluto', duh! It's a classic!" Quels remarked as he looked over the various DVD cases strewn on the floor. "That's what I said when I put that in the pile, total classic." Byaku said as he hung up the phone, walked up to quells and fist-bumped him. To which, gadget merely yelled out "LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!" with a droning tone. "Oh deal with it, it'll be fun. So where's your team, bro?" Byaku asked Quels. "They're on their way, they'll be here soon." Quels said in reply. "Sweet, I can't wait to see who you've got as team mates…Ame, just pick one at random already." He said to Ame, beginning to lose patience with him. "But Byaku, you know how… well, yeah…" he tried to remind Byaku of a very important fact, but hesitated, because he'd rather let as few people know about his past, rather the lack thereof, as he could. Byaku paused for a moment, trying to comprehend why he stopped short, before rolling his eyes approaching Ame. "Oh for god's sakes fine, I'll choose!" he said as he retrieved the movies so he could pick for himself. "So what do you think your team would like?" Byaku turned to quells, hoping for a better answer than 'they're both lame' or no answer at all. Quels paused for a few moments, and gave it some thought. "Hard to say! I mean, classics are classics, but… actually, yeah... 'Zombie Spiders from Planet Pluto' it is!" The elf finally said. "Sweet, now we just need to set everything up while I make the sushi!" Byaku said with excitement. "Ok-wait, you make sushi, Byaku?" Gadget asked, confused, she knew Byaku liked sushi, but she didn't know he could actually make sushi, or have the patience to make something that didn't involve a microwave.

"Yep, you can help if you want, the more the hungrier I say" Byaku commented with his large grin on his face.

After about half an hour, the sushi was ready, when suddenly there was a knock at the door. "I got it!" Byaku called out as he made a dash for the door. He opened it to find a tall boy, the teen had dark-ish skin and white hair which spiked out and flowed down to his shoulders then splayed out, he had stubble adorning his face as well as two markings going downward in the middle of his eyes (seeming to be tattoos of some sort), his eyes a light blue seeming to be the focal point of his face. He wore a robe of both a deep and light blue with a large, red scroll on his back. "Greetings." The boy said, "Is this the residence of Byaku and Ame?" "Yes, I'm Byaku Yakate, nice to meet ya." Byaku said, extending his hand with a grin on his face. "A pleasure, I am Sten Ishval" The boy replied, shaking Byakus hand. "Yo! Sten, just in time, Byaku just finished making the sushi and pizza's on the way!" Quels called out from the couch. "Quels, it seems I wasn't the first one here, hehe." Sten said, rubbing the back of his head with an awkward smile on his face as he saw Quels and Gadget sitting on the couch. Sten likes being on time at all times if possible. "Ok, let me get you acquainted, you know Quels, this is ame, he's an Aromancer, and this is Gadget, a Technomancer. And I am a Pyromancer." Byaku said as he was introducing his teammates to Sten. "Very nice, I am an Aquamancer, with a sub-school of Frostus. So uh, I heard that there was sushi available?" Sten asked, eyeing the large platter of various kinds of sushi on the counter. "Yeah there is, please, help yourself." Byaku replied gesturing at the counter.

Just as Byaku went to sit down, another knock could be heard at the door. "Ugh, I got it." Byaku groaned as he got back up to get the door. He was surprised at who he saw. I was the dog eared girl he saved from Rockzar on his first day in Hope's Pillar city. She had long flowing blue hair that went down her back, with two sections of it tied into pigtails on the sides of her head, her blue dog ears perked up when she saw Byaku had opened the door. She had blushed cheeks and a small scare across her nose. She wore a green jumper with a blue medallion, as well as a pair of grey pants with very pale blue shoes. Her soft orange eyes mesmerised Byaku, he never got a good look at her when he caught the large piece of rubble about to crush her all those days ago until now.

"Oh-uh-h-hello there, my name is Sai'ch, You must be Byaku Yakate. I remember you from when you saved me from that falling building a while ago… T-thank you." The girl said as she introduced themselves. "Uh-duh-h-hey there. How's is goin'? Yeah, I'm Byaku, please, come in." Byaku said as he invited the girl in. "I've made sushi which is right over there-huh?" Byaku looked over to the counter to find the platter of sushi now empty. "What!? W-where'd all the sushi go!" Byaku snapped back to reality (oh there goes gravity) he dashed to the empty platter, comedic anime tears rolling down his face. "I spent half an hour on that!" Sten giggled silently to himself as he licked his lips. "What the hell Sten!?" Quels yelled at Sten for eating all the sushi. "What? You know I can't resist when there's sushi around." Sten replied. Ame and gadget simply watching in pure confusion as all this was unfolding, Quels was yelling and trying to slap Sten, who was slapping back, and Byaku was Sobbing with the platter clutched to his chest as Sai'ch was trying to calm him down. "Do you have any idea what is happening, Gadget?" "Nope. I'm just as confused as you are, not even the orphans at home are as chaotic as this. Should I handle this?" "I've got it."

"Alright that's enough! All of you!" Ame yelled out "What's the matter with you! We're meant to be here to watch a movie and get to know each other, instead you're eating all the food and fighting!" Quels and Sten then sat still. "And Byaku! You're meant to be the organiser of all this! Stop crying like a child and create more using magic!" "But *sniff* it's not as good if you don't make it by hand…" Byaku sniffed. "Done!" A voice from behind Byaku rang, it was Sai'ch, who had somehow managed to make an entirely new platter of sushi within that small amount of time. Byaku's face suddenly lit up and be beamed. "H-Hey thanks!" Sai'ich set it down on top of the old platter, smiling gently. "No worries" Gadget looked up from her game, sitting upside down on the armchair. "Don't eat too much sushi, you won't feel well in the morning." She said with an almost motherly authority. Ame looked over at her, rather surprised at her tone of voice. Gadget redirected her attention back to her game, and then the group focused more on Quels, who was placing sushi on Stens face. After everyone had finally settled down, Byaku put on the movie, and they sat together, Gadget claiming the armchair and swatting away people who tried to get her off. During the movie, a couple of the guys chatted quietly and discussed plot holes and minor errors in the movie. Sa'ich and Gadget had given up on the movie, and chatted quietly amongst themselves while Gadget taught Sa'ich how to play the game she had brought with her.

After a short while, Sai'ch decided to sit back on the couch and continue to watch the movie, the only spot left was next to Byaku. "Excuse me, but can I sit there?" She politely asked Byaku. "Yeah, of course." Byaku replied, scooting over slightly giving Sai'ch a bit more room. She sat down and started watching, after a while she noticed that Byaku's arm was on the back of the couch. *Wow, Byaku's pretty nice, I thought he'd be a bit jockey and arrogant, but he's pretty cute kinda. And his arms nearly around me…should I…I will…* Sai'ch thought to herself. Byaku meanwhile was watching the movie happily, when he felt something on his side. He blushed when he moved his eyes down to see Sai'ch, who was also blushing, had begun snuggling up to him. Her ears brushing against Byaku's chin. *Oh crap! What is she doing? Uh-uh-uh! I've never done this before…uh…She is kinda cute…but should I…oh what the hell.* Byaku thought to himself and then slowly moved his arm down to rest his hand around her far shoulder. Both blushed hard. Gadget looked away from her game for a few seconds, letting out a near silent '_Shipped_' before going back to her game.

Byaku noticed Quels looking at the two of them, Quels gave Byaku a wink and looked back at the TV, Byaku blushed even harder. After the movie had finished and the credits were rolling, Byaku asked Quels; "So how'd you meet your team, bro?" "Well, I met Sten on the train to Hope's Pillar, we talked for a while and became friends. And Saich I met in our first class when our teacher grouped the three of us together for a practical exercise, we had to collectively calm a Saber-Cat… *shivers* I still get chills from that thing, had to change by hair for a while after it frayed one of my dreads…" Quels replied. Sai'ch clenched up to Byaku after remembering the Saber-Cat. "Yeah, that was funny, he tried spiking his hair up like yours, Byaku, it looked weird on him. Ha!" Sten chimed in. "ha! Nice, huh? Uh, Gadget, why is there a small sheep on your knees?" Byaku said as he noticed a small fluffy sheep sitting on Gadget's knees. Gadget looked up from her game towards the ceiling, so see her pet. "Oh hey, Toast! What are you doing here? You must have followed me here, huh?" Gadget said as she sat upright and cuddled the small animal. *bah!* was Toast's only reply (He's a sheep, what did you expect? 'Moo'?) "Aww, he's pretty cute, Gadget. How long have you had him?" Sai'ch asked. "Hm, dunno, but he's here anyway." Gadget said as she put Toast on the armrest, moved back to her original upside down position, and went back to her game.

Soon after everyone decided to leave and go back to their homes. Sten gave a polite bow before saying goodbye and leaving, Sai'ch gave Byaku a hug (as she does to everyone before she says goodbye) and then dashed out the door before anyone could notice her blushing hard. "Alright, Imma head out now, Byaku. I'll see ya around the academy, yeah?" Quels said as he was standing at the door. "You know it, bro!" Byaku replied before holding out his left hand, unusual seeing as Byaku is right handed. Quels also extended his left hand, but instead of shaking hands, they grabbed each other's wrists for a solid 3 seconds before releasing and Quels left. When Byaku and Quels released their grip on each other, Ame noticed a small scar going across Quels and Byaku's left hands. *Hm…they must really be close friends if they've done something like that, even I can recognise a friendship pact like that.* He thought to himself.

"sooo, Byaku. You and Sai'ch huh?" Gadget asked cheekily. "What? Uh-t-that was just a-a thing. That's it." Byaku replied, burying his blushing face into a comic book. "Oh yeah? What kind of thing?" "Uh-A thingy thing." "What kind of thingy thing?" "…shuddup…" "Aww, how cute, do you want me to give you a cootie shot? I look after kids all the time." Gadget giggled to herself seeing Byaku literally turning as red as his hoodie. "Yeah Gadget. What kind of thingy thing?" Ame asked. "Ame, you're doing it wrong." "Huh? I thought that's how you do that kind of thing." "Nah she's right, dude, you're supposed to ask me that." "Oh, ok then…Yeah Byaku, what kind of thingy thing?" "SHUDDUP AME!"

**End of Chapter 10.**


	12. Chapter 11

**Project MANA, Chapter 11**

**Last time, on Project MANA, our trio of young mages, Ame, Gadget and Byaku, had spent some time with three more young mages, Quels, Sten, and Sai'ch. With the rest of the day passed and the rising sun coming once more, our heroes too, must greet a new day. **

A loud noise appears abruptly and startles Byaku, jerking him into alertness. "D'AH! What the hell!?" he proclaimed, as he jumped up, and looked around his room in flurry of adrenaline and fear. Not long after, he realized that the source of the disturbance was merely the alarm clock beside his bed. "Oh…" he muttered to himself whilst silencing the alarm clock and yawning loudly. He began to stretch his arms, when he noticed the dark colouration of the sky. Hurriedly, he checked the clock beside him for reference, to find it was the ridiculous hour of 5:00 AM. He thought to himself; "I could have sworn it was set for 7:30…" Noticing that something, some ONE, caused his alarm clock to change the time he'd set to wake him up at, he decided to investigate.

Byaku threw the covers off his bed and got dressed. He proceeded to the living room to see Ame, clad in his usual clothing, sitting on the floor in what seemed to Byaku as an odd position. Ame's eyes were closed and his legs crossed, he was too deep in thought to notice Byaku walking over to him. "Hey, Ame?" Byaku said softly, as he bent down and rested his hand on Ame's shoulder. "Aaaaaaame?" he says, hoping to elicit some kind of reaction from his all-too-focused friend. And he does. Ame jumps subtly and opens his eyes to see Byaku in front of him. "Oh, you're up! I was just about t-"Ame began to say, but Byaku stood up and interrupted him.

"Oh you're up? *sigh* Ame, why am I up at 5:00 AM? Everyone else in the city is still asleep." Byaku said, frustrated that he's missing out on sleep and now he's going to be tired at school. "I'm sorry, I just figured that I could do something early with you." Ame said, slightly sad that things weren't going to plan. "Okay, look… so, I'm up now. What'd you want to do?" Byaku asked, as Ame got up, hopeful that his grumpy friend would like what was planned for the morning. "You want to join me? You had me worried for a second there! Come follow me, and we'll begin!" Ame suggested quietly, making his way to the door leading outside the apartment. "Why so quiet, dude?' Byaku inquired, following Ame out.

Ame grew slightly confused. "With the way you yelled at me not long ago, I'd imagine others wouldn't like too much to be woken up so early." Byaku suddenly remembered that it was still roughly 5:00AM. A few minutes passed before Ame finally led Byaku outside, not far from the entrance of the apartment building they'd lived in since they were enrolled in Hope's Pillar Academy. Ame stopped walking and turned to Byaku on the spot. "Well… here we are!" he said, with a big bright grin on his face. That grin slowly faded as he noticed Byaku was shivering a little. "Byaku, are you okay? You're shivering… I hope you aren't sick..!" he said, as his happy, hopeful expression turned to one of deep worry. All Byaku had to say was this; "Ame… it's really freaking cold out here. How are you able to stand this?!" Ame took a second to register what was said, and wondered if it actually was cold.

"Cold..? Which one was that again?" he asked Byaku, having reasonably sparse knowledge of English for someone who basically 'appeared' roughly a month or two ago. Byaku became frustrated, but remembered about a week or so ago, when Ame asked him; "hey Byaku? I noticed not long ago, I'm not great at this whole 'English' thing… if you don't mind… could you teach me?" he also remembered an image where he held up some cards to Ame with pictures of certain objects and Ame needed to guess what the word was. He snapped back to the present. "It's the one with the ice cubes… remember..?" Byaku asked, Ame took a moment to think about it. "Oh! I remember now! But… it doesn't seem –that- cold out… are you sure it's cold..? I mean, look..! The suns even about to rise…" he pointed out a small portion of the sky, where it was a warmer colour than the rest the blackness that hung far above them. Byaku glanced, and looked back at Ame. "Yeah I'm sure, I can handle it though, what did you want to do?" Byaku asked? "Well, are you familiar with the eastern art of Tai-Chi? I do this every morning after meditating for an hour." Ame Told Byaku. "Uh-huh I see-wait, you meditate for a HOUR? You're up at 4 in the morning to meditate? Whatever, you want to teach me Tai-Chi? Is that what you're saying, dude?" Byaku said, baffled as to hour Ame can function properly throughout the day with only 4 hours of sleep. "Exactly, I was hoping to get you more awake for when we go to the academy, I've noticed you've been sleeping in class a lot, then jolting yourself awake, have you not been sleeping well?" "Not particularly, I'll explain later, let's just get this over with." Ame nodded and he began teaching Byaku Tai-Chi. It felt like ages before Ame concluded the lesson and the two went back to the apartment.

About 5 minutes passed before they finally got back to their apartment. Byaku walked over to his room, hoping that he could get even the smallest amount of sleep before school started for the day. He fell onto his bed face-first and closed his eyes. "Better check the time…" he thought to himself as he turned his head over to his alarm clock. It read 6:15AM. His eyes began to widen. He thought to himself; "WHAT?! 6:15?! ALREADY?! HOW?!" he shot up out of bed in shock. Meanwhile, Ame began to look for ingredients around the kitchen to make breakfast with. "I hope I get this right…" he thought to himself, because, as far as he knew, he's never done this type of thing before, a regular breakfast with these two would just be cereal or toast. He looked for a cook book or a recipe guide somewhere. After a few minutes of rummaging and searching, he found one. The title read; "Of Traditional eastern recipes!" A picture on the cover looked familiar and somewhat delicious. He thought to himself; "this one looks good!" he looked around in the book for that particular dish. It took a while, but he finally managed to find it. The page read "Oyakodon". His stomach began to growl. He really liked what he saw, and wasted no time in preparing the ingredients.

"Wait a minute… do we even have that..?" Ame paused suddenly. A wave of terror overcame him as he searched frantically in the kitchen. After a minute he finally found it, and his knees went weak with relief. "Ah, found it… now! Let's get started..!" he thought, as he rolled up his sleeves, and put on an apron. Roughly 20 minutes went by when Byaku noticed an oddly delicious smell coming from the kitchen. "That couldn't be Ame… could it...?" he thought to himself, he put down his comic book and thought about investigating. Ame looked over his handiwork. Satisfied, he decided to serve up two dishes, and set it up at the dining table. He called out; "Breakfaaaaast!" in an upbeat tone, happy with his result. Byaku heard the call from the kitchen, but had slight trouble believing it.

Curious, and just a little bit concerned, he slowly got up and proceeded over to see Ame at the dining table, waiting for him with a dish he doesn't think he's seen before. Byaku cautiously sat down next to Ame. He glanced at Ame, watching, waiting, hoping, to see Byaku's reaction. Before Byaku lay a bowl, filled mostly with rice, chicken, egg, and some vegetables. He picked up a fork, and reached into the meal. He took a bite. After a moment, his face lit up, and he couldn't bring himself to finish his mouthful before yelling out; "it's good!" Ame was thrilled to hear this, but made an attempt to hide it. "F-flattery will get you nowhere…" he protested. Byaku glanced at him in confusion, and then breakfast proceeded as normal. "Uh-oh, it's lookin' pretty bright out, we'd better go!" Byaku proclaimed, not long after having finished his meal. "Looks like it's about… 7:15?" Ame guessed, looking out the open window nearby. Byaku brushed it off, and got up to rush out the door. "Whatever man, let's just get outta here! We're gonna be late!" Byaku yelled, having exited the door already. "Ah, he left…" Ame thought to himself. Without any further delay, he grabbed a large plastic bag from off the bench, and off he went, closing the door behind himself. He rushed out, hoping to catch up to Byaku, who was already halfway out the main entrance of the apartment complex, hover-board in hand, ready to jump on it as soon as he cleared the complex enterence. He began to run after him, but hesitated. For the safety of the bags contents, he began to walk at a moderately fast pace.

Byaku and Ame left with enough time to be at the academy with a bit of time to spare to relax and talk before going to class, they met Gadget along the way to the academy which gave Ame a chance to reveal what he was carrying in the bag was another serving of Oyakodon for her to try. Suffice to say, she was quite impressed by Ame's culinary talent. Byaku meanwhile, was drifting in a daydream, what it was not even Byaku knew, he was completely zoned out, his lack of sleep lately has seemed to take its toll as Byaku began to drift more and more often than usual. As it turns out, Byaku was having strange dreams that were keeping him up. He can't remember what they are when he wakes up, but he knows that they're disturbing, at least to him that is.

When the three mages arrived at the academy, they went to their usual spot, the bench under the large dark oak tree. Gadget jumped up and hung from a branch, while Ame and Byaku sat down on the bench. Byaku had finally zoned back in and was talking with his friends calmly. "I wonder when we'll be sent on our next mission, that first one was pretty awesome. The ones we've been doing since then have been just plaining chours. I mean seriously, how many times does Ms Gretchen need to get her cat stuck in a chimney before she stops throwing it on the roof!?" Byaku said, complaining about the lack of exciting missions his team and him have been assigned. "Are you sure you want to do a proper mission? You aren't in the best shape for combat, you've been really sleepy lately. I've seen you falling asleep in class more than usual." Ame asked. "Yeah dude, I can see the bags under your eyes from here." Jett said from atop her branch. "I'm fine, I could use some fighting to wake me up." Byaku said with a yawn.

"Wait, how can you be tired? We did Tai-Chi this morning." Ame asked, confused as when he does Tai-Chi, he feels energised and ready for the day. "Because you woke me up at 5:00 AM, NO ONE should be up at 5:00 AM." Byaku said, tilting his head back so the sun shone on his face. "Seriously?" Gadget asked. "I wanted Byaku to do Tai-Chi with me." Ame said. "I know, but. 5:00 AM? Seriously?" Gadget repeated. "Yeah, next time, just wait until after school or something." Byaku said to Ame, his eyes closed, resting. After a short while a bell was sounded to say classes were starting. "Alright, History with Doc Simon. Let's go guys." Byaku said as he got up and began walking toward the building with his class in it.

During History class, the three mages were able to pay attention pretty well, especially since Byaku was tired a lot lately, but this didn't last long. After about an hour into the class, as Byaku was leaning on his hands, trying to pay attention, he finally caved, his eyes snapped shut and he was out. Byaku had a vivid dream, he couldn't make out anything except for a sound, a voice. Feminine, it was familiar and had an inherit caringness to it, 'she' only said one thing Byaku could make out. "Byaaa-kuuun." Byaku snapped awake, almost launching himself out of the chair, he looked around and found that he was still in his seat in History class. "Mr Yakate. Do you have a question?" Doc Simon asked. "Uh, no sir, I just needed to stretch that's all." Byaku said, lying through his teeth as he stretched his arms and back, then sat back down. "Smooth move, Yakate." Gadget said as she was leaning back on her chair, fiddling with a small machine she put together. "TEAM YAKATE TO THE HEADMASTER'S OFFICE PLEASE!" A voice came over the P.A system. "Mr Yakate, I'm assuming that's you?" Doc Simon said, smiling at Byaku and his team. "You bet, let's go guys, this HAS to be good!"

Byaku, Ame and Gadget were almost running up the stairs that lead to Headmaster Mortimer's office. When they got there, they saw Vincent, Marnee, and Mack leaving the office. "Yo, Vince! You guys got a mission too huh?" Byaku asked, excited for his new mission. "Actually squirt…_We're_ Team Yakate. We just got our mission. You three will have to go back to class." Vincent said "Sorry kiddos, but this one's ours." Mack chuckled. "Maybe next time, yeah." "Actually." Mortimer called from inside, "Send Team MANA in please. I have something for them too." "Oh…well, yes sir. You heard him, squirt. Get in there." Vincent said, as him and his team walked down the stairs to begin their own mission.

Byaku was hesitantly grinning as he, Ame and Gadget entered the Headmasters office, oddly enough, they found Mortimer standing in the centre of the room, waiting for them. "Students, welcome, I was just about to have an announcement sent out to have you sent here, my apologies." He said. "Well, I guess it's lucky I confused the name 'Team Yakate' for Byaku Yakate, instead of Vincent Yakate (…stupid big brother…) hehe…" Byaku said, awkwardly chuckling to himself. (Wow, even I can tell that was a fake chuckle.) (Smooth move, Yakate.) "I'm sure. Now, I've heard on the grape vine that you've been excited for a more, how should I say, involved mission, with combat instead of the medial tasks you've been assigned as of late. Yes?" Mortimer asked the group. "Yes, very much yes, sir." Byaku chirped up. "So excited that you end up getting tired and sleeping, _during_ classes, am I right Byaku?" "Uh…There's a different reason for that…" "Oh, then it must be the staying up all night reading Pyrus Man comic books then? Hmm?" "Uh…w-well…" (He told me he was studying...no wonder he keeps falling asleep in class…) "I'm just teasing you Mr Yakate. But I do have a mission for your team. Please, sit."

"Green Lantern? Really, Byaku?" Gadget asked as they sat down. "What? I'm not allowed to admire fine art?" Byaku replied. "It's a comic book dude." "Ahem! Now, your mission. We've received reports that a meteorite has fallen from space and landed several hundred Kilometres to the west of Hope's Pillar City. I want you three to bring it back to the academy for studies to be conducted on it." Mortimer said as he sat as well. "You want us to recover a meteor? How does that have anything to do with combat and putting out magic skills to the test?" Byaku Asked. "I'm glad you asked, you see, there's been reports of cult-like activity in the area the meteor landed, we're sending students instead of archaeologists because there may be a time where you need to fight these people as they may try to acquire the meteor for themselves." "What would they want the meteor for, sir?" Ame asked. "…I dunno, to chant some religious mumbo-jumbo at it probably." Mortimer said with a chuckle and a shrug. "Hm! Lotta help that is…When do we leave, Headmaster?" Gagdet asked. "As soon as you can. I've had you three marked as on leave for the rest of today and until you return from your mission, standard procedure." Mortimer replied. "Alright, thank you, Headmaster. We'll be on our way as soon as we're packed." Byaku said as he and his team mates stood and bowed before leaving.

It took about an hour for the three Mages to go home and pack their things. Gadget was pretty quick with her packing and was able to catch up to Byaku and Ame just as they were entering their apartment. "Can you believe it? Another good mission! This is going to be *yawn* this is going to be awesome! I need more coffee…" Byaku said as he shoved changes of clothes and supplies into his duffle bag. "I'm a little anxious to find something that fell from the very sky we look up at every day. With the way it looks, you'd know there was more than just us out there, but you'd never expect to see it once in your life, even after seeing… what was it called again? The movie we saw." Ame replied. "Oh, the lame one? Think it was some nonsense like zombie spiders from planet Pluto." Gadget said as she walked through the door. "Oh yeah." Ame remembered. "Hey! That movie was awesome! You've gotta respect the classics, man, you just gotta!" Byaku retorted, grumpy at gadget for having called it lame.

"Well, whatever, we've got a mission now so we better get going. You got everything Ame?" Byaku said as he finished zipping up his duffle bag. "Yes, I think I have all I need." Ame said as he walked into the main room, with a moderately sized bag slung around his shoulder. "Alright…" Byaku said as he grabbed his hover board. "Let's head for the West Gate, then we can get going." And so the three made their way to the West Gate of Hope's Pillar City. When they arrived, they showed their mission document to the guard standing by the gate and were allowed out. Gadget had split from Ame and Byaku a short while before they reached the gate so she could get a mechano-griffon for Ame and herself to ride on. She soon arrived atop the mechano-griffon and the three set off, westward from Hope's Pillar City, into the large desert surrounding the city. The sun was nearly beginning to set by this time.

During their trip, Byaku began to drift into another day-dream. Again it was vivid with a bunch of talking Byaku couldn't make out. But again he heard that familiar voice. "Byaaaaa-kuuuuun. '"You've fallen asleep again, we need to wake up." 'She' said as Byaku was jolted awake by nearly falling off his board into the sand. "DAH!" He said as he steadied himself. "Another dream?" Gadget asked from the mechano-griffon. "Yeah, it's freaking weird, I keep hearing a girls' voice, telling me to wake up." Byaku replied. "A girl's huh? It wouldn't happen to be a blue-haired girl's voice is it?" Gadget asked, giggling to herself. "No! But it IS familiar though, I don't know where from though…" "Maybe it's someone you were close to. Maybe you should to talk to someone about it." Ame said. "Nah, I'll be fine. Let's just get this mission over with so I can get some proper sleep." Byaku said as he sped slightly ahead of the mechano-griffon.s

It was about an hour of high speed travel before the three came across their destination. A large crater in the middle of the large desert. "Alright, let's go see this meteor." Byaku said as he got off his hover board and looked into the crater. "Oh shit! Get down." He said when he saw multiple hooded figures, and a few golems surrounding what looked to be the meteor. Ame and Jett crouched beside Bayku. "Who are these people?" Ame asked, curious about their attire. "I don't blumin' know, you want to ask them?" Gadget replied. "All I know is that they're going to get away with the metoer!" "Alright, I have a plan." "Oh boy, remember how well your last plan went?" "That was with elementals, who we've never faced before, this is just a few hooded nut-jobs. Anyway, we follow them back to their base of operations. "Byaku said, explaining his plan. "But we need to hang back enough that we're not in their sights, but they're in ours, got it?" "Seems solid, but what if they see us?" Ame asked. "Well, then we give them a wide birth." Byaku replied, coldly. "…Very well."

The three mages watched as the group carried the meteor out of the crater and began heading north. Byaku, Ame and gadget started following them. It was about another hour of slow traveling behind the hooded group before they could see where they were going. A large cliff face, with what seemed like a large base situated inside the massive cliff. The group approached the large doors at the entrance to the base and went inside. When Byaku, Ame and Gadget arrived at the massive doors, Byaku began thinking. "Hm…if these guys have a whole base inside there. Then they probably have more people in there, a lot more people…" "Then what do you suggest, Byaku?" Ame asked. "I think we should call in some back up. It seems like we'll need it." Gagdet chimed in. "I was just about to suggest that." Byaku said as he grabbed out a small communicator and turned it on. A brief pre-recorded message came up telling Byaku to 'please wait while the headmaster is busy.' Them some elevator-music started playing. Byaku groaned at this and leant up agains the wall while he waited. "Hello? Who's this calling?" Headmaster Mortimer's voice could be heard through the communicator. "Hey, headmaster. It's Byaku Yakate here." Byaku said as he almost flung himself off the wall. "Ah, yes. What can I do for you Mr Yakate? Have you found the meteor?" Mortimer asked. "Well, we found it, but we weren't the first to. When we arrived at the crater there was a group of hooded men with golem's guarding them. We've tracked them to their base. It looks like we'll need back up, we don't think we'll be able to do this on our own." Byaku explained. "Hm…I see, very well, I'll have a team teleported to your position as soon as they are able." Mortimer said as he turned the communicator off. "Alright, we've got another few minutes until back up arrives.

It was 10 minutes before anything happened. A large, glowing circle appeared in front of the group. "So, Byaku. Can't do this alone can you? HA! I don't blame you for asking us for help!" A familiar voice said through the portal. Immediately after Quels, Sten and Sai'ch stepped through the portal, grins on Quels and Sten's faces. "Dude, I didn't think the Headmaster would send you guys to help us." Byaku said as he bro fisted his old friend. "We were going in to see the Headmaster about a mission when he got your call and sent us to help you instead, Bya-kun." Sai'ch said, slightly blushing when she saw Byaku. "It was actually by Quels' request that we're helping you. Headmaster Mortimer was going to send another team to your aid." Said said, stepping forward to shake Byaku's hand. "Thanks bro, we should head in and start finding the meteor." Byaku said as he shook Sten's hand and started walking towards the door.

It took the combined effort of Byaku, Ame, Quels, and Sten to pull the door open before they could head inside. The six mages began walking down a long corridor, with a few small rooms branching off the main path. Eventually they came to a large circular room, with 3 branching corridors, not including the one they came from. "Well, now what do we do, Bro?" Quels asked Byaku. "Hm… I think we should split into 3 teams of two, that way we'll cover more ground. If we don't find anything, come back here to meet up. Ame, you &amp; Sten head down that left hallway." Byaku said. "Very well." Ame said as Sten nodded and the two began down the hall. "Jett, you &amp; Quels scope out the forward hall. Me and Sai'ch will take this right hall." "Alright, let's go, Quels." Gadget said. "OK, I'll see you on the other side, brother." Quels said as he and gadget began down the forward hallway.

"Um…Are you sure you want me to come with you Bya-kun?" Sai'ch asked as she and Byaku started walking down the third hall. "I'm sure, and besides, I think the others will get along fine, Ame &amp; Sten both seem like the same sort of personality. Gadget &amp; Quels are both elves, and they're feisty as balls. And well, I guess that leaves just you and me." Byaku said with his hands behind his head. "Oh…I see." Sai'ch said, looking down at the ground. "Don't get me wrong, I think I'll like spending time with you." Byaku said, giving Sai'ch a warm smile. Sai'ch started blushing as the two kept walking.

Byaku, Ame &amp; Gadget: (I just hope the others will be ok…)

**END OF CHAPTER 11!**


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